


To the Sea

by Curious_Archer



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fix-It, Hurt, Love, Originally Titled "Home", Penelope and Landon BrOTP, Starts fast, This will come to center around Posie, Will switch viewpoints every chapter for a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2019-11-19 11:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18135236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curious_Archer/pseuds/Curious_Archer
Summary: Penelope will always do what's right. She's starting to hate herself for that. She wishes she would always do what was smart.





	1. Saving Nixy

**Author's Note:**

> This is just an idea that popped into my head that I couldn't wait to get down. Please let me know what you think.  
> 

It was taking all of Penelope’s will power to not turn around and march right back up to Josie. To not pull her close, kiss any available skin that she could, and tell her she would stay. But she couldn’t. She would tear herself to pieces if she did. So, she reaches out and pulls the door open. She forces her eyes forward, raising a hand to her cheek to wipe away a stray tear. However, walking down the steps she finds that she doesn’t need to force herself to do anything. Something in the distance has already grabbed her attention.

It was a van pulling up next to someone. She lets her bag slide off of her shoulder and fall to the pavement. Stepping forward she tilts her head to the side and squints, trying to make out the persons face.

Landon.

She’s shaking her head and turning back around when she sees him fall.

“Oh, shit.” She watches as Landon continues to twitch, and the driver gets out of the car. She has to stop herself from gasping as she watches. Realizing that she could be seen she presses her hand over her chest and says, “ _Invisique_.” The woman looks around at that moment, checking her surroundings for witnesses, and Penelope feels her stomach plummet when she sees her face. “Mrs. G?”

Mrs. G starts to lift Landon up by his armpits and Penelope decides now is the time to get help. She may not exactly like the guy, but no one deserves to be tasered. At least, that’s what she tells herself as she flies back into the school, praying that the woman didn’t see the door open. She races to find Dr. Saltzman. The first place she can think of is his office. She can feel the relief wash over her when she sees that his door is open.

She’s met with an empty room and she can feel the frustrated yell build in her throat. On a loop in her head she thinks, _‘No time. No time. No time. No time.’_ She runs to the desk drawer that she knows the keys to his car are in and she yanks it open, grabs the keys, and then slams it closed, taking off again. The walls of the school and the lingering students she passes don’t even register as she shoots towards the front door. She wrenches it open and launches herself over the stairs landing roughly on the pavement. Her left ankle rolls painfully when she lands awkwardly in her heals.

"Ah, shit," she exclaims, stumbling awkwardly.

Looking towards the front gates she watches as the van turns left and disappears from view. Realizing they were slowing her down, she kicks her shoes off and runs as fast as she can to Dr. Saltzman’s car. She slams into the drivers door and shoves the key into the lock. When she opens the door she curses Dr. Saltzman’s height, she hops into the seat and pulls the chair closer to the steering wheel.

Rock music blares in her ears when she starts the car, startling a loud scream from her throat. She hits the power button so hard she fears she just broke his car. She tears down the school’s driveway, running over part of the grass in the center. Her heart freezes in her chest when two wheels lift off of the road due to the sharpness and speed of her turn.

She doesn’t stop though, she just knows that she has to catch them.

She can just make out the van in the distance when she realizes what a bad idea that is. If she “catches” them, there’s no telling what might happen to her. She wants to help, but she doesn’t want to die. She also doesn’t want Landon to die, but he’d come back. She wouldn’t. She shakes her head at herself, she doesn’t know what Mrs. G. wants to do to him, but she does know he needs help. She really wishes she could stop this car, turn around, and still sleep at night. But, she knows that she would never be able to do that.

She’s getting closer and she decides she’ll follow them and call for help on the way. Her heart stops once again. She can’t remember if she even brought her phone. She flings her right hand off of the wheel and starts patting herself down. She almost cries in relief when she feels the phone in her back pocket.

The car jerks to the left when she runs over something. She reaches to turn her headlights on, but she pauses. Then Mrs. G will know she’s being followed. Acting quickly, she slides her hand over her eyes and whispers, “ _Nox visus._ ” Opening her eyes she’s glad to see that her spell worked. She can see everything that surrounds her and with a small smile she rolls down her window. She places her left hand on the outer door and for the second time that night says, “ _Invisique._ God I hope that worked.”

She decides to test her work, by slamming her foot on the gas. The car shoots forwards and the engine revs once again startling her, this time causing her to jump and yank the wheel. The car swerves and Penelope just shakes her head. “Well that just won’t do.” She places her hand on the car once again and says, “ _Facti inaudibilis_.”

She floors the gas once again and is met with silence. Sighing in relief Penelope pushes the car to go faster. She needs to get closer. It takes her almost two minutes to catch up to Mrs. G. She feels as though she can finally relax.

That’s not true. Her muscles have never felt so tight. She roles up her window, just so that she can sit in quiet. That’s what she needs right now. Not the deafening wind. Silence.

As if the universe was listening and decided to laugh at her, her phone rings. She quickly answers it, hating how jumpy she is. She’s better than this.

She’s not. She’s really not.

Why is she doing this?

She doesn’t really have to ask herself that. She knows.

Kidnapping is bad.

“Hello?” she answers pressing her phone to her ear.

“Hello, this is Trevor, your Uber driver. I’m at the location you asked for and I don’t see you anywhere.” Penelope drops her head against her head rest in frustration.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to cancel, I’ve made other arrangements, please charge my account.” She hangs up before anything else can be said.

Mrs. G. turns and Penelope is quick to follow. Penelope drives for almost an hour in complete abject fear fueled silence before she remembers that she needs to call for help. She alternates between scrolling through her contacts and watching the car in front of her. She growls in frustration when she can’t find Dr. Saltzman’s phone number. She mumbles angry curse words at herself for not even having Hope’s number.

MG. She’ll call him. She hits his name and the green phone that appears under it. She places the phone against her ear and listens to it ring. The ringing seems to last for hours.

“Peez?” The second that she hears is voice time seems to slow. What is she going to say? With everything that’s happened lately, she can’t tell him about this. Not yet at least. She doesn’t want to know what will happen when he finds out his mother is a psychopathic kidnapper. He’s just starting to get better. She can’t tell him, not now. She can’t.

“MG,” she all but shouts, “hey. Hey, MG. Hi, hello.” She winces, what is happening to her right now. She’s going to chalk it up to exhaustion.

“Um, hey?” he says, his voice awkwardly rising in pitch. “Why are you calling me. Do you need something?”

“Yes,” she says. “Um….” She doesn’t know what to say. What can she say? “I forgot some of my bags outside. By the stairs outside. By the front door. Outside.”

“Okay,” he drags out the end of the word.

“I was just hoping you could go grab them and keep them in your room until my parents’ butler can come get them. I trust you and all of that.” She wants to bang her head against a brick wall. “If you could just grab them, they’re-”

“Outside,” he finishes for her. “Yeah, I got that.”

“I’m sorry, MG,” Penelope says, grasping for an excuse he’d believe. “I was just really, you know, out of it, after my talk with Josie. I just set them down, and….”

“Hey I get it,” he says. “I know it’s been hard on you lately. I’ll go do that right now. Is there anyth-”

“Thanks MG,” she interrupts. “I’m sorry, but can I call you back?” Her voice starts to strain, her throat getting tight. “It’s just, I can’t. I mean-”

“Hey, no I completely understand, I’ll talk to you soon Peez.”

She’s already crying by the time she hangs up. She’s all alone right now. No one is coming to help her. What the hell is she supposed to do? She’s never done something like this before. The birthday incident was a completely different thing. She knew what she was getting into, and what was coming, she had help. And it was for Josie. This?

She has no clue. No idea what she’s facing or what she’s getting into. No help. And it’s for Landon. A guy she’s talked to once.

This sucks.

 

* * *

 

 

They drive for three more hours before Mrs. G. stops for gas. In that time Penelope was able to come up with a somewhat plausible plan. Well, half a plan. Well, an eighth of a plan.

She needs to get into Mrs. G’s car. In all of her imagined scenarios, there was bound to be security wherever they were going. Security that Penelope was sure would notice an invisible force trying to follow Mrs. G’s car through the gate. So, she had to get into her car. She didn’t know how long their drive would be now, but she did know that the sound of a third person breathing was bound to alert Mrs. G. to the presence of a stowaway, so she’s already taken care of that.

She thinks that it is the weirdest feeling to not be able to hear yourself breathe. She can’t wait until this is over.

She parks on the side of the station and hops out of the car. The second she stands up, pain shoots through her left leg, causing her to silently cry out. Looking down she see’s that her ankle has swelled to the size of  baseball. She feels herself hiss, “ _Asinta mulaf hinto, sho bala_.” Though she doesn’t hear anything, the pain does fade. Allowing for her to run to Mrs. G’s Ford Escape. She winces as Mrs. G reaches behind herself to taser Landon again. Penelope stands ready by the passenger side back door.

When Mrs. G. opens her door, so does Penelope, but not fully. Just enough to have unlatched the door. Mrs. G. starts walking away, and while her back is turned, Penelope hops into the car. She hears the locks click around her as she swings her door behind her, coming close but not fully closing the door. She watches as the woman approaches an exhausted cashier, and when the door is finally closed behind her, Penelope snaps her door shut as well.

She falls against the seat in a mixture of pure relief and pure exhaustion. She hadn’t slept since the night before last, having stayed up all night doing her last minute packing. The original plan was to leave yesterday during lunch, but when she found out Josie was competing not for herself but to help Lizzie win, she changed her plans. She was supposed to be in a five star hotel right now in a ridiculously comfy and expensive bed, waiting to board a late morning flight. But no, she was in her friend’s mom’s car, sitting on an uncomfortable and stiff backseat. She should have just left when she had planned.

That’s a lie. She’s happy she decided to stay despite her current predicament, she’s glad she was able to finally have that talk with Josie. If she dies today, and the odds of that happening are starting to look greater, at least she finally got to explain.

Landon grumbles in his sleep, grabbing Penelope’s attention. She scoffs at the way Mrs. G. tried to make it look as though he were just sleeping in the backseat. At least he got to wear a seatbelt, if they crash, she’s dead meat. Invisible dead meat. How wonderful.

Her thoughts are interrupted by Mrs. G. getting her gas. It was a long two minutes for Penelope as she watched and waited.

She waited as Mrs. G. got back into the car. She waited as they pulled onto the highway. She waited as the trees flew past. And she waited as the sky started to lighten with the rising of the sun. they had been driving for hours, stopping for nothing. Landon was lucky, he got to sleep for all of it. She has to stay awake for all of it.

 _‘Well,’_ she thinks, _‘Lucky aside from being tasered and kidnapped.’_

The sky continued to lighten and Penelope slide her hand of her eyes soundlessly saying, “ _Lux visus_ ,” as she did. Looking out the window she saw that the sky was a mix of pink, lavender, and yellow. The morning had finally arrived.

Mrs. G. pulled the car around the back of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. However, Penelope watched as two men with guns filed out of the dented metal door they had parked by. The brick building loomed over them as Mrs. G. opened the door and stepped out, simply walking away and into the building, not looking back once.

Penelope scooted after Landon as they pulled him out of the car, trying to stay as close as possible. She scoots behind one of the men just in time, as he kicks the door closed with his foot. She follows them down several twists and turns and stairs. Armed men stand in front of the occasional door. She saw some men sitting in a room full of computers watching through a window as men in lab coats roamed about another room.

They walked and walked and walked. Finally they keyed open a door, and shoved their way inside, Penelope once again slipping in behind them. The enter a large open area with a weird tar pit in the center of it. Mrs. G. is already waiting at the bottom, staring into the pit. She doesn’t even turn around as the men strap Landon to a chair at the edge of the pit. The larger of the two men steps towards Landon and slaps him.

The sound of the contact resonates around the room, yet Mrs. G. still doesn’t turn. Landon startles awake. His head whips around and questions soon follow as he tries to figure out what is going on. The large man doesn’t let it last for long, he pulls a black bandanna out of his pocket and wraps it around Landon’s face, forcing it into his mouth to gag him.

Penelope tip-toes down the stairs careful not to make a sound. She pushes up against the wall across from Landon when she reaches the bottom. She can feel the grime on her hands and she tries not to retch. Mrs. G. snaps her fingers and the men leave. She walks towards on end of the room and leans against a table that is covered in papers. Penelope walks over to see what it they are. She can make out ‘Malivore’ and ‘Phoenix’ before the sound of approaching footsteps pulls her attention towards the stairs she came down. Turning she sees a man in a nice suit descend the steps and approach Landon, the latter of whom looks petrified. Penelope can’t blame him. She’s terrified too.

“Agent Clark,” Mrs. G. says walking over.

“Mrs. G.,” he says tearing his eyes away from Landon to look at her. Penelope inches closer to the trio.

“Your asset failed her retrieval mission,” the older woman says. “I cleaned up her mess. Now, I am going to finish the job that you clearly, could not.” She waves her hand towards Landon and the message becomes clear. “I am sorry that it has to be like this Mr. Kirby, but we simply cannot risk you activating another artifact.”

Penelope watches in horror as Mrs. G. moves to push Landon backwards. Just as she’s about to move to stop her, Mrs. G. jolts and freezes, a loud bang echoing through the cavernous room. Mrs. G. turns to face Clark and Penelope screams when she sees the red blossom across her chest, staining her white shirt crimson.

“Sorry, Mrs. G.,” Clark says. They all watch as the woman falls to her knees, hand pressed to her chest. Her mouth gaping, trying to draw a breath. “The plan has changed.”

Mrs. G. collapses backwards, eyes open and unseeing.

Landon starts screaming, leaning as far away from Clark as he can without toppling over. In panic, Penelope runs forward and rams into this Agent Clark guy. Everything moves in slow motion as he topples, arms swinging, and face panicked into the pit. The volume of Landon’s screams increase, as does his restricted flailing. His eyes dart around the room searching for the cause. Penelope’s eyes are drawn to the glass windows overhead, where men in lab coats are scrambling and a red light is flashing.

In a hurry, Penelope begins to untie Landon, and he instantly calms.

“Hope?” he calls, after using a newly freed hand to ungag himself.

Penelope scoffs in offence and waves her and over her mouth, “ _Claresco_. Hope Mikaelson wishes she looked this good.”

“Penelope?” he asks, his voice airy and high pitched. His face is scrunched, his eyebrows furrowed. “Where are you?”

“Seriously bird boy? I’m right in front of you,” She finally unties his last foot, and pulls him to his feet.

“But I can’t s-” he begins his eyes skating over her as he searches for where she might be.

Penelope huffs a sigh and shakes her head, “There’s not time for this, let’s go.” She grabs his hand once again and says, “ _Invisique_.”

Landon jumps in alarm when Penelope appears right in front of him. She doesn’t wait as she makes her way up the stairs and to the door they entered from. Landon is close behind, not wanting to spend a second more in this awful place. They stand at the door, red lights continuing to flash around them as they wait.

“What are we waiting for?” Landon asks as armed men swarm into the room in front of them. Many stand behind the door waiting for it to open, when all are ready they watch as the leader gives a not to the man at the controls.

“That.” Landon doesn’t have a chance to respond when Penelope shoves her hands forwards with a yell. He lets out a startled scream when the door flies off of it’s hinges and plows into the men behind it. They fall like dominos and lay on the ground motionless. The remaining men yell and start firing their guns.

Landon flinches expecting the end to be near, but nothing ever comes. He opens one eye just for a peek, expecting to see Penelope on the ground riddled with holes and bleeding out. Instead he finds her pushing forwards with her hands raised. The bullets bounce off an invisible force and fly backwards. Quickly, everything falls silent. He opens his other eye and peers through the door. Bodies riddle the floor but they are ignored by Penelope who just steps over them. Landon follows, his stomach clenching, he has to force himself not to throw up. Penelope just killed all of these men.

They run down hall after hall. Penelope occasionally waving her hands to send men flying or making them keel over in sleep. Alarms blare in their ears but the sound of skin slapping pavement grabs his attention. Looking down he sees that Penelope’s feet are bare. “Penelope where are your shoes?”

Their breaths come in puffs as she looks over her shoulder at him. Her eyes wide and her brows furrowed, “Is that really important right now feather face?”

As if to emphasize her point, they round a corner and are met with the sound of gunfire. They both grunt in pain as Landon shoves Penelope to the ground, landing ungracefully on top of her.

“Sorry,” he mutters, pushing off of her, accidentally groping her as he does. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t spontaneously combust on me now fire boy,” Penelope mutters, sending the men flying with a flick of her wrist and then pushing to her knees. “While I do appreciate your gratitude and enthusiasm, these puppies are spoken for.”

“What?” he barks in alarm. “No. No- I. That’s not.” Penelope can’t help but laugh at how flustered Landon’s become.

“Dude, chill.” She continues to walk down the hallway, slower this time. She’s starting to think that caution is the best policy. “I’m messing with you.”

“Right. Okay, yeah.” He nods his head, following her down the hall. He looks around and pauses as another thought occurs to him. “Wait, where are the others?”

Penelope doesn’t even turn to look at him as she pushes forward, trying to remember the route they took on their way in. “Sorry Fawkes, Dumbledore and the gang are back at Hogwarts, it’s just you and me.”

“Why didn’t they come?” he asks.

“Why? Am I not good enough for you, Nixy?” Penelope places a hand over her heart in mock offence. Landon stumbles for what to say yet again.

“That’s not what I meant,” he says, running a hand through his hair anxiously. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Well, obviously,” Penelope scoffs. When she looks over her shoulder at the boy behind her, she has to roll her eyes at how ridiculous he looks. “Geez Torch, you need to lighten up.”

“That’s kind of hard seeing as we’re in a very dangerous situation,” he hisses, leaning towards her for emphasis. “And can you stop it with the names?”

“I thought you wanted to feel special,” Penelope says, feigning innocence. She opens the door, sticking her head out and looking left then right, before pulling her head back in to look Landon in the eyes. “I’ve never used these nicknames before.” She opens the door fully walking outside. She tilts her head back slightly, lips pursed. “Well, actually, that’s not true. I’ve used Torch before.”

Landon has nothing to say in response so they run to Mrs. G.’s car. Penelope runs over to the passenger side and Landon follows. He stops when he realizes that they are both on the passenger side. “Wait, what?”

“You drive, I don’t have a license.” Penelope waves her hands at him, ushering him to the other side of the car.  They both hop in and freeze.

“There aren’t any keys.” He starts digging around the immaculate vehicle looking for the keys. As he flips his sun visor, Penelope rips the bottom panel off from under the steering column. “What are you doing?”

“Pull the red wire and the blue wire out.” Landon hesitates at her words. “Now!”

“Okay, okay. Red and blue. Red and blue.” He rips them out and holds them up, “Now what?”

“Hold them together.” He obliges and there’s a spark. Penelope snaps her fingers, “ _Lecutio_.”

The car revs to life just as large black SUVs pull around the corner of the building. They both start yelling as Landon throws the car into gear and peels out of there. Landon looks in the rear-view mirror and presses on the gas even harder. They tear down a country road. Trees on one side fields on the other. The distance between them and the cars behind them continues to shrink and they can both feel the panic rise.

“Penelope what do we do?” He asks, glancing at her. She pushes herself further into her seat shaking her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t,” she pauses. Looking between herself and Landon she says, “ _Visique_.” Then she roll her window down all the way and leans out as far as she can. Facing the oncoming cars head on. “ _Sispann la agresè. Sispann la agresè. Sispann la agresè._ ” The lead car behind them suddenly flipped causing a chain reaction of crashes behind them.

“Holy shit,” Landon exclaims. Slowly, Penelope pulls herself back into the car and slumps back against her seat. “What the hell? Hey you okay?”

“’M tired.” She rolls her head to the side to look at him. “Stop for nothing, wake me up when we need gas.”

It’s quiet and Landon thinks that she’s really asleep so he says, “Thank you Penelope. For everything.”

The car jerks a little when he gets a response, “No problem, you can pay me back with a nice bottle of vodka.”

Landon smiles.


	2. Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie's turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for Any confusion that may have been caused. I didn't like how the chapter had turned out, nor did I like the lack of Josie in the last episode, so I decided to rewrite this chapter. This may happen again in the future, until the season is over. Also sorry for the wait, Spring break is over so I'm back in school. Besides all of the that please read and review! Comments fuel my creativity, as bad as that sounds it's true. Also, not Beta'd and I don't really read over my work, so there may be typos. Sorry.

Josie barely slept. Choosing to avoid her and her twin’s room, she opted to sleep in Penelope’s old room instead. She had read about the merge and stayed up until the early hours of the morning researching anything that she could find which wasn’t much. So, she told herself she’d get a little bit of sleep, and then get right back to work.

The problem with that plan however was that laying in Penelope’s old bed, in Penelope’s old room; made it extremely difficult for her to quiet her thoughts enough to allow sleep to overtake her. Instead, she replayed every interaction she had with Penelope over the last few months, starting right after the break up, and everything looks different. It felt as though she had been looking at everything through blurry, scratched, tinted glasses.

She understands it all now. Everything that Penelope did, made sense. Though she could have gone about it in a different way, and she was still angry about the things that had happened, she understood. And she was grateful. Because even when it hadn’t felt like it, there was always someone who was putting Josie first, always and no matter what. Josie just wishes she had known that it was Penelope.

She regrets how she acted after the breakup. She had just been so hurt. She wanted to make Penelope hurt, so that’s what she did. The horrible feeling in her chest returns when she remembers finding a pair of her pajamas in a drawer in Penelope’s dresser. They looked more worn then they did the last time she had seen them. They had been folded nicely and set apart from the rest of the clothes in the drawer.

Josie sits up slowly. She’s dreading having to face the day. She’s going to have to keep herself busy, she knows. Last night when she was researching, she would forget that Penelope was gone. It was when she had nothing to do that she thought about the ebony haired witch.

She putters around the room, stalling her inevitable departure from this safe place. She just doesn’t know what comes next. How is she supposed to face Lizzie after everything that’s happened?

The very thought of her twin sends a white hot rage through her body. She was tired of always bending to the will of her sister. The amount of things she has given up or lost because of Lizzie makes her nauseous. Knowing that she allowed it all to happen makes her even more furious.

Her fists are clenching, and unclenching, her chest is heaving, her muscles are tense, and she can’t seem to stop pacing. She throws her arm out, and the sole remaining possession of Penelope’s that was left behind flies against the wall shattering into pieces. Instantly, her anger diminishes. That was Penelope’s favorite vase. It was huge, and obnoxious, but it was a birthday gift from MG. So, she cherished it. Josie smiles at the memory of Penelope pretending to hate it in front of her and Lizzie only to find her placing it proudly on the center of her dresser.

She moves to clean the pieces up, wiping away an escaped tear when she sees it. A small note addressed to her in Penelope’s handwriting. She slowly pulls it out of the shards of vase, giving it a little shake to clear the dust off of it. Then, ever so gently, as though she were afraid it would tear, she opened the note.

_Hey JoJo,_

_Thought you might need to blow off some steam. Might as well put Milton’s gift to good use. Everything in the room is spelled, it will fix itself._

_Go crazy love._

_Yours always,_

_Penelope_

And then she’s crying again. Full blown, unpleasant sobs. She heaves herself back onto Penelope’s bed and shoves her face into Penelope’s pillow. This is not what she wanted. She wants Penelope, her pillow isn’t enough, she wants the real deal. She always thought that when the time came, Penelope would be right there beside her.

She stands from the bed, telling herself that she’ll have time to be upset later. Right now she has to find out more about this merge thing. Her dad had written about it but all of his writings had been pretty vague. She needed to know what made it bad enough to make Penelope leave. A small voice in the back of her head screams at her not to do this.

But she has too. It doesn’t matter that she’s scared.

She walks to Penelope’s old closet and opens the door gingerly. Inside she finds all of Penelope’s school clothes. Her favorite blazer hangs from a hook on the door, and Josie reaches out and grasps it. Her eyes burn as she holds back even more tears. She steps forward and presses her nose into the fabric. It still smells like Penelope. Her shampoo, her body wash, her perfume, her laundry detergent; all mixing together in a flowery scent that is uniquely Penelope.

She pulls away, her head hanging, still grasping the jacket. She inhales a stuttered breath, her lashes flittering in an attempt to blink away the tears. She gives the jacket a small flick as she decides what she wants to do. After a second of hesitation she unhooks the jacket, reaches into the closet and pulls one of Penelope’s shirts off of the hanger, and grabs one of her skirts.

She has a lot to do today and she needs to get ready.

 

* * *

 

 

She just wishes that Lizzie would give her space. She knows that her sister is just trying to help, but it’s all just too little, too late. Bringing her a pie and giving her this book isn’t just going to magically fix everything that’s happened. It won’t change the fact that time after time, when Lizzie had been Josie’s first priority, Josie had never been Lizzie’s. The football game, the honor council election, their birthday, and of course the pageant, all jump to the front of her mind. And those were just the most recent occurrences.

She hates how Hope talked to her. She knows what she said is awful, but Lizzie needs to learn her lesson. What’s going to happen the next time she goes off her meds and she falls apart and none of them are there too pick up the pieces. It’s better if she learns now then later. And Josie feels as though she also needs to learn how to live without the support of Lizzie. She meant what she said. It’s time for her and Lizzie to become their own people.

She didn’t want to say it like she had, she wanted to have an actual conversation with Lizzie about it when she was ready. But the way Lizzie had said Penelope’s name had pushed her over the edge faster than she had expected. She knows that a small part of Lizzie thought she was being loyal to Josie in her hatred of her sister’s ex, but given recent events, she thought that Lizzie would understand that Josie didn’t hate Penelope.

Josie loves her sister. No amount of fighting will ever change that. But Penelope made her realize that she needs to start loving herself. She can’t do that if she is constantly at her sisters side, walking her through all of her ups and downs. She just wants her sister to start learning how to do that for herself, so that it doesn’t always have to be her or their dad who fix it. They need to get over their co-dependency.

The main problem is that neither of them really know how to apologize, especially Lizzie. The attempt at peace making earlier in the day were evidence of that. Josie herself doesn’t know how to really apologize for what just happened in their dorm room. She regretted it the second that it was over, but it was her or her sister, and for the first time in a really long time, she chose herself. But then she saw the hurt in her sisters eyes, so she fled.

Now she’s in Penelope’s room, sitting on the foot of her bed, watching as everything around her flies back together fixing themselves. She rarely ever lost control of her magic the way that she just had. She was happy that she was able to do so in a place where no one could see. It was just one more thing to be thankful towards Penelope for.

She stands and looks around the room. She doesn’t know what to do with herself anymore. Everything is falling apart around her, and once again she has nobody. Nobody is here for her. She chased the last person who understood her completely away. She laughs dryly when she thinks of all of the times Penelope had known her better than she knew herself. She may not have shown it in the best way, but at least she did show it.

Unlike her sister. Unlike her dad. Unlike everybody else.

She sees an old shoebox poking out from under the bed, and all other thoughts fly out of her mind with this new distraction. She lowers herself to her knees and pulls the box out, listening to the hiss it makes as it drags across the floor. She pulls the lid off and places it down to her left. Inside she finds s string of pictures of her and Penelope. There were five pictures of them right in front of her and she felt as though her chest was caving in.

She lifts the strip of pictures into her hands, cradling it as though it were the most precious thing on earth. A small smile pulls at the corner of her lips but her eyes are downcast. She remembers when these were taken. They had a date at the movie theater in town, but they had gotten distracted just talking to each other in the parking lot. They ended up missing the movie entirely, but Penelope still suggested that they go inside, because she was dying for some popcorn.

When Josie saw that photobooth as they were leaving, she knew that she couldn’t leave without taking some pictures with Penelope. They took a cute picture of Josie hugging Penelope around the neck from behind, her cheek resting on top of Penelope’s head, huge smiles on their faces. In the next picture, Penelope is beaming with her eyes are closed as Josie kisses her cheek. The next their positions are reversed. The next they are both smiling into a kiss as Penelope cradles Josie’s cheeks. And the last one is her favorite. They had both been surprised when the count down for a fifth picture came across the screen. Penelope had laughed, covering her mouth as Josie panicked about what to do next, her panicked rambling only making her laugh harder as Josie threw her arms around her shoulders and leaned her head against Penelope’s forehead, smiling just in time for the picture.

When they were done, Josie had eagerly climbed out of the booth to grab the pictures. One for herself and one for Penelope. They had walked out of that theater hand in hand, both thinking that it had been an amazing night.

She presses the pictures to her chest as she bites her lip. Tears rolling down her cheeks. She had no idea that Penelope had kept these. Remembering what she had done to her strip of pictures, makes her cry harder. The night that Penelope broke up with her she had gone straight to her room, collected everything that came from their relationship, threw them in the trash can by her desk and set them on fire.

She holds the pictures out in front of her, running her fingers over the pictures. Her fingers run over small bumps. She sniffs as she hurriedly turns the picture over in her hands. On the back she finds four little words written there.

 _The night I knew_.

It feels like everything inside and around her is falling apart. She feels as though someone has reached into her chest and wrapped their hand around her heart, squeezing it tightly. Any further reaction that she might feel is interrupted by a knock at the door. She tucks the pictures into her jacket and rises to her feet. Thinking that it may be Lizzie, she wipes her cheeks then throws open the door.

“What do you want Liz- dad?” She’s surprised to find, not her sister, but her dad standing there. The look on his face terrifies her, and she can feel the dread seep in. “Dad? What’s wrong? Is Lizzie okay?”

“I need to talk to you, and your sister.”

 

* * *

 

 

They are sitting in silence on a couch in the common area There is so much to be said, but they don’t know who should start.

Josie decides that she’ll take the lead.

“I want you to know that I am still so, so, angry with you. And finding out about the merge won’t fix that anytime soon. I am done settling for second.” Josie shifts on the couch, pulling her leg up and sitting on it so that she can face her sister. There are other students chattering in the background, but she ignores them. “I need you to know that I’m going to start fighting for myself. I’m not going to let you walk all over me anymore.”

“I understand Jo,” Lizzie says. “I know you need me to change too, and I will, but I need you to know that it’s going to take time, and I’m going to need you to talk to me okay? You’re going to have to _tell_ me how you’re feeling.”

“Okay.” Josie nods and they descend into silence once again.

“How did you find out about the merge?” Lizzie asks, hoping that she’ll finally get an answer to the question that has been kicking around inside her head. Josie starts worrying at her hands and avoiding eye contact.

“Penelope told me,” Josie says, finally looking up at her sister. She rushes to continue when she sees the look of disgust on her sisters face. “It’s why she did everything that she did. She was scared about what might happen to me. She wanted me to start fighting for myself so that if the merge happened I’d have a chance.” Her voice cracks, and she shakes her head as the tears start to fall once again.

“Oh, Jo,” Lizzie says, reaching out to pull her twin into a hug. “It’s going to be okay.”

Their moment is interrupted by Hope as she stalks into the room. The sisters pull away from each other and look at her when she stops in front of them.

“I need your help.” Josie and Lizzie glance at each other quickly before looking back at Hope. “Triad has Landon.”

“Triad?” Lizzie asks, scooting forward to the edge of the couch.

“As in creepy people from spring break, Triad?” Josie asks, also scooting forward on the couch.

“That’s the one. I think that they took Landon,” Hope says, running her hand through her hair. “I don’t know how, I just know that they have him. That can be the only explanation for everything that’s happened.”

“Okay.” Josie stands. “When do we leave?”

“Josie,” Lizzie tries, “what are you doing?”

“I’m going to help a friend.” She turns to look at Hope again. “So when do we leave?”

“We leave as soon as your dad gets back,” Hope says. “He took all of the car keys with him after someone stole his car last night.”

“Someone stole his car?” Josie asks, not sure about how she didn’t know that. She looks over at her sister to see if she knew, but Lizzie shakes her head, just as clueless as Josie.

“Maybe it was one of the Losers from last night,” Lizzie suggests. Josie rolls her eyes at her sisters words.

“Maybe,” Hope says, shrugging her shoulders. “Either way, he’s taken all of the keys with him, so now we have to wait for him to get back from where ever he went.”

“Okay,” Josie starts moving towards the door, Lizzie is quick to follow. “I’ll go pack a bag.”

On their way out they pass a frantic looking MG, holding a phone to his chest. The look on his face gives Josie pause and she turns to follow after him. Lizzie makes a noise of annoyance at the sudden change in plan. They watch as MG approaches Hope, both knowing whatever it is must be bad if MG is willing to approach the redhead.

“Hope, have you seen Dr. Saltzman?” he asks, phone still pressed to his chest. The twins keep their distance, not wanting to interrupt. Josie knew that MG didn’t want her help with whatever it is, otherwise, he would’ve come to her.

“What’s it to you?” Hope asks coldly, turning to walk away. The look on the young man’s face at her words, however, stop her.

“Hope, you can hate me all you want,” MG says. “But please, I need to talk to Dr. Saltzman. It’s important.”

“MG,” Hope approaches him, the worry clear in her voice. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

The vampire is about to answer when something else grabs his attention. The three girls watch as he shakes his head and raises the phone to his ear. “Hey, I haven’t found Dr. Saltzman yet, I’m still looking.” There was a pause as he listens to the person on the other side. “No, no. I understand. I’ll let Dr. Saltzman know what’s going on when I find him, and I’ll have him call you.” Another pause. “Of course, anything I can do to help. We’ll find her. Bye.”

He hangs up and throws his phone at the couch. He grasps his hair in tight fists as he starts pacing. All three witches take an unconscious step back when they see his red eyes. Seeing Hope move away from him calms, snaps him out of it.

“MG,” Hope tries again, stepping towards him once more. Her hand outstretched to grasp his arm. “What’s happened?”

“I need to find Dr. Saltzman,” he says, his voice almost pleading. “Please, where is he?”

“He’s not here.” Josie steps forward making herself known. She moves closer in an effort to comfort her friend, but her actions only seem to make him more upset.

“No, no. Josie, please leave.” MG backs away. “Please, this’ll just be one more thing to make you hate me, and I can’t have you hate me. Please. Josie, please leave.”

“Hey, MG.” Josie steps forward and places her hands on his shoulders. “I could never hate you, okay?” He nods. “Now, tell us what happened.”

“I made a mistake.” He drops onto the chair behind him, almost missing it completely because he didn’t look. All three girls move closer, closing in around him.

“What mistake?” Hope asks, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“I didn’t know, honest.” He looks at each of them, his eyes pleading.

“Oh my god. MG just spit it out,” Lizzie growls losing her patience.

“Penelope’s missing.”

His words are met with complete silence. Everyone looks at Josie, they watch as the news hits her. She backs up, her eye lids flutter, and her breathing quickens. She can feel the panic rising, threatening to swallow her whole, but she won’t let it. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and looks at MG again. “Explain,” she says, her voice low. She pulls Penelope’s jacket tighter around herself.

“She called me last night,” he starts, no longer wanting to look at the witches in front of him, electing instead to look at his hands. “She said that she was so upset after your talk last night,” he glances at Josie and then back to his hands, “that she forgot some of her bags outside. She asked me to hold onto them, and that her parents would send the butler to get them soon. She sounded upset, but I thought it was because of what happened with Josie, you know?”

“What are you trying to get at Milton?” Hope asks, just wanting him to get to the point. She has her own missing person to deal with.

“Her mom just called.” MG’s voice is rough. “She said that Penelope never made it to Belgium.” He looks at Josie. “And you know how her mom is, if she’s actually worried enough to call the school, then something must be wrong.”

Actually, Josie didn’t know that. However, she doesn’t get a chance to respond.

“Maybe she’s not actually missing,” Lizzie suggests. “This is Penelope we’re talking about. The queen of trouble, she’s probably the one who stole dad’s car. Probably as some kind of statement or something.”

But both MG and Josie are shaking their heads. “Nah, that’s not her style. Plus, why would she leave all of her stuff here, if it was just some prank?” MG asks.

“Look,” Hope starts, “I was about to ask for your help with a locator spell to finds Landon. After we find him with it, we’ll use it to find Penelope. Okay?”

Josie nods.

She doesn’t care if this ends up just being a prank, she just wants her to be safe. She’s going to find Penelope.

And once she's safe and sound by her side, she’s going to make sure she stays.

 

* * *

 

 

“So what are we going to do again?” Lizzie’s voice cuts through the air.

Hope, who is finishing drawing the last symbol they need looks up to make fleeting eye contact with Lizzie before refocusing her attention on the candle in the center. “We’re going to do a locator spell that’ll show us where Landon is. His notebook will help us focus on him. We’ll be able to see where he is and what he’s doing, and if he needs help. After,” she says, glancing at Josie who hasn’t looked up from a spot on the floor since they got had entered the room, leaning against the wall. Her eyelids fluttering occasionally. “After, we’ll do the same with Penelope.”

At the mention of her ex, Josie finally looks up from her spot and pushes off of the wall. “So what do we do?”

Following Hope’s instructions, they encircle the symbols and candle. Joining hands, they begin chanting with Hope, “ _We du le mon ennemi on ton._ ”

The continue chanting, the pull of the spell gets stronger and stronger. They chant for the eleventh time and the room around them disappears. The walls are replaced by trees, the ground replaced by dirt and twigs and leaves, and the light is replaced by darkness.

The quiet is replaced by an explosion of noise.

“Landon run,” a distant, distorted voice cries.

They watch as he weaves in and out of trees throwing his hands over his head. Gunfire echoes around them. They watch as he stops, his back against a tree. They can see the indecision on his face. They see him take two deep breaths before pushing off of the tree and running back the way he came. The scene of him jumping over fallen trees and rocks, plays in front of them like a movie. Small flashes of light get closer and closer the more he runs. Hope wants to yell at him to stop.

Finally he dives behind the trunk of a large fallen tree.

“I thought I told you to run Daffy.” Josie gasps as the darkened figure of Penelope appears in front of them.

“No can do short stack, you’re stuck with me.” Landon peeks his head up over the trunk to see that the men are getting closer. “They’re getting closer.”

“Great observation, Hotshot,” Penelope grouches. “I know they’re getting closer, it’s part of my plan. Now the other part requires you to run, because they’re after you, not me.”

There is blood dripping from her nose.

“It’s not going to happen Penelope, I’m sticking with you.”

As the three witches watch, their noses begin to bleed. They need to get out and get out soon.

“Son of a bitch, Landon, just run.” Penelope pushes to her knees. They can tell that she’s preparing for something. “You need to get back to the school, people need you there. Think about Hope and Raf.”

“People need you too Penelope.”

“No they don’t.”

“Yes, they do.”

“ _No,_ Landon. They don’t. Now. _Run dammit._ ” Penelope launches herself over the fallen tree. Her hand raised in front of her creating a shield against the on pouring of bullets. “ _RUN!_ ”

With her scream, a blast of energy flies outwards sending the men flying. Everything seems to happen in slow motion as blood starts to leak from her ears and eyes as she continues screaming, and waves of magic radiate from her. The trees around them explode, shards piercing the bodies of the armored attackers.

Everything stills as Penelope falls to the ground as though she were a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Landon jumps over the tree and falls at her side, “Penelope!”

 

* * *

 

 

All at once they are pulled from their vision. Josie and Hope can feel the terror gripping their hearts with a hand of ice. Lizzie is the first to speak.

“What. The. _Hell_.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and let me know what you think! As horrible as it makes me sound, the more comments I get the more I like to write. It helps knowing that people actually like what I'm writing. Constructive criticism is welcome! The next chapter should be up soon.
> 
> P.S. POTENTIAL SPOILER: I think that Josie is going to get shot in the next episode and the only way to save her is to turn her into a vampire, which will turn her into a heretic, thus helping her avoid the merge. Just a theory.


	3. Some Bunny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a forest, somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that Chapter 2 was rewritten, everything but the end has been rewritten, so go check that out if you'd like. Not my characters, just writing an idea. Also, Please Comment!

“Landon, I swear to all things holy,” Penelope growls, “ if I have to ask you to slow down one more time, we’re going to find out just how fire proof you really are.” She’s treading lightly and slowly, her arm over Landon’s shoulder as he helps her trek across the rough forest floor.

“Well, I don’t _know_ if I'm fireproof,” Landon says slowing his pace.

“Would you like to find out?” Penelope huffs, breathing heavily from the exertion of keeping pace with the quicker, longer strides of the raven-haired boy.

“Not particularly.” Landon tightens his grip on Penelope’s waist when she loses her footing on loose terrain. “Penelope, maybe we should take a break.”

“I agree,” she says, thankful for the suggestion. “You’re breathing pretty hard over there, I would hate for you to strain yourself.”

Landon rolls his eyes as he lowers her to the ground, propping her up against a tree. He puts some much needed distance between himself and Penelope.

“I hope you sit on a pinecone,” Penelope grumbles as she bends over to massage her ankle. He glares at her as he drops to the forest floor. He can’t help but wince when he feels the sting of blisters on his feet as he pulls his knees closer to his chest. They sit in silence, not even looking at each other. “I’m sorry,” Penelope says quietly. “Thank you for your socks.”

Landon doesn’t voice a response, casting said socks a glance before nodding his head slightly. It was weird to hear something that was somewhat nice come out of Penelope Park’s mouth. Especially when it had been such a fight getting her to accept said socks in the first place. Something about how a young woman of her caliber would rather be caught dead than wearing another person’s used socks. A step on a sharp rock and a bloody sole later, and Penelope was hopping through the woods, her display reminding Landon of Grumpy the Dwarf.

He wonders if dwarves are even real. Given everything that’s happened lately, he wouldn’t be surprised.

He shakes his head at himself. That is not what he should be thinking about right now.

“Why do you think they’re after me?” His voice breaks the stillness between them. Penelope startles, clearly having just begun drifting off. She looks around, confused for a second before her eyes clear and understanding passes over her face.

She shrugs her shoulders responding, “You know the legend of the Phoenix right?” He nods. “Well, then you know that Phoenix’s are known for having certain regenerative powers. The whole, ‘Phoenix tears can heal’ thing. Well I’m guessing it’s the same for you. Though, I don’t think you can control it yet. That’s why they want you. They have you, they have a way of ensuring the final key to Malivore is activated. Boom, we’re all dead.”

“Jesus.” He looks down at his hands, unsure of what he’s feeling.

“Yeah,” Penelope says. She adjusts her back, trying to find a more comfortable position. “Maybe you should take your socks back and use them as gloves or something. Just so you know, they are a little bloody.”

“I think I’m good thanks,” he says, a small smile on his lips. He grabs a twig off of the ground and breaks it into smaller pieces, repeating the action until the pieces were too small to break. He starts throwing the pieces at a beetle that’s sitting on a rock next to him. “It’ll never be safe for me will it?”

“Honestly?” Penelope asks, looking at him and shrugging when he nods. “No, it won’t. But let’s be honest, you’re a bigger danger to yourself than anyone out there can ever be.”

Landon can’t help it, he laughs. And once he’s started he can’t stop. He drops the little sticks in his hands and grips his knees. He tries to contain his laughter, looking up and making eye contact with Penelope.  The latter biting her lips in an attempt to stop laughing, but the second their eyes meet, they’re both laughing.

It’s nice, they escape from everything for just a second. Penelope is the first to stop laughing, but the smile stays on her face. She leans her head back against the tree and rolls it side to side at their ridiculousness. Soon Landon’s laughter fades as well and he looks at the girl across from him.

“So what now?” he asks and the look that Penelope gives him, fills him with doubt and uncertainty. “What, what’s that look for?”

“You know we can’t go back to the school right? They’ll be expecting you to go there,” Penelope tells him. “It wouldn’t be safe.”

“But-” he starts, Penelope immediately interrupts him.

“No buts, Tweety.” Penelope’s voice is sharp. “All of these monsters have been after the artifacts. They were willing to kill to get those artifacts. Now they’re willing to kill to get you, look at what happened to Mrs. G.”

“Penelope, I have to go back.” Landon says shifting to his knees, as though he’s trying to plead with her to see it his way. “Raf and Hope are there, I can’t just leave them.”

“You know who else is at that school?” Penelope’s voice chills the blood in Landon’s veins and her eyes flash with a quiet fury. “Kids, Landon. Kids who can’t protect themselves. Are you really telling me that you’d be willing to sacrifice them just so you can see your girlfriend? If you go back there now, you’ll be putting all of them in danger. _Including_ Hope and Rafael.” Landon drops his butt to his heels as he lets her words register. The weight of what she’s saying pressing down on him.

Penelope doesn’t say it, but he knows that she’s also worried about Josie. She has that look on her face that he saw the day they walked through the front door, the girls covered in slime. He remembers MG sitting in the back of the Salvatore bus, his phone pressed tightly to his ear as he talked to the person on the other end. He had been telling the person that, ‘ _It’s over Peez. We found Sasha. And Josie’s okay._ ’ He saw Penelope waiting in the common area when they got back. The worry in her eyes as she searched for the taller brunette clear on her face, only disappearing when she saw Josie laugh at something MG had said.

So, he knows.

“Okay. So the school isn’t an option.” Landon runs his hand through his hair. “So then what should we do?”

“I’m going to Belgium. One way or another, I’m going to end up in Belgium.” Penelope leans back against the tree, shutting her eyes. “Maybe you should get out of the country too. Head overseas. You could come with me.”

Her voice drifts off, and Landon isn’t even sure she’s aware of what she just said. Looking at her though, and thinking about everything that has happened, he whispers, “Thank you.”

 

* * *

 

 

Penelope wakes up alone. The sun has started to go down now, meaning that she’s been asleep for a long time. There’s a fire burning in front of her and the warmth that radiates from it is soothing. Her toes curl as she stretches and looks around, searching for Landon. She calls out but receives no response. She pushes herself up in a panic, using the tree as support.

“Landon,” her voice sounds desperate. She winces as her movements jolt her swollen ankle. “Landon.” She’s starting to panic now and the pace of her hops increases. She ignores the pain in her foot as branches and rocks pierce her skin. She swipes her hand, moving stray branches out of her way. She plows through a wall of branches and leaves only to find Landon on the other side.

“Penelope,” he cries out, trying to cover himself. Penelope is so relieved that he’s okay that she can’t help but make a joke about it.

“Careful there Big Bird,” she says, raising a hand to cover up her sightline. “As much as I loved Sesame Street, I have never had the desire to meet Little Bird. Put it away.”

“You turn around,” Landon throws over his shoulder. “I’m not done yet.”

Penelope turns around. “Okay, hurry up.”

“I need you to cover your ears,” Landon’s voice is gruff, his embarrassment apparent. “I have a shy bladder.”

“Oh my god,” Penelope laughs, shaking her head as she brings her hands up to her ears. This boy is ridiculous. “You know that there’s probably a ton of animals watching you right now right?”

Landon’s eyes widen and his head swivels to look around. Though she can’t see it, Penelope starts to laugh, knowing that what she said freaked the boy out. Landon finishes his business and decides that he’s going to get back at the other raven-haired teen. He sneaks up behind her and squeezes her sides quickly, yelling, “Ah!”

He realizes that he shouldn’t have done that. Really, truly. He regrets his decision, especially when he’s flying backwards through the air. There is panic in his eyes as he makes eye contact with the young witch, whose hand is covering her mouth in shock, but her eyes seem to be shining in Landon’s opinion.

He lands in a bush about ten feet away from her, and he can’t help it. He starts to laugh. A full belly laugh that starts to burn. Penelope is also laughing, leaning against a tree for support. “Looks like you can fly after all, Donald.” Her words send Landon into more hysterics.

He did not know that this would be how his day would go. The obvious reasons aside, he thought that this day was just going to suck. But things were actually starting to turn around a little bit.

He’s still smiling when walks over to Penelope. Without saying anything, she wraps her arm around his shoulders and allows him to lead her back the way that they came. They walk in companionable silence as they make their way back to the fire Landon had made. Their progress is slow moving once again, and Landon can’t understand why.

“Why haven’t you healed yourself,” he asks, breaking the silence that settled over them. He’s getting tired of Penelope looking at him like he’s stupid.

“I don’t have super healing like your pup of a girlfriend,” Penelope’s words are broken by puffs of air. They continue in silence, Penelope only talking again when the reach the fire. “Actual healing spells take a lot of time, magic, and concentration. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been using a lot of time, magic, _and_ concentration, on making sure that we don’t get killed. I’ve been using a numbing spell, but those have been wearing off faster and faster because I keep making things worse.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, helping her sit down by the fire. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s not that,’ Penelope says, sighing in frustration. “I just don’t like it when people underestimate me. It pisses me off.”

“Hey, I get it,” Landon says, sitting down next to her. “People have been underestimating me since the day that I was born. This whole thing with Hope, it’s just one more person who thought I was incapable. One more person who I trusted, who didn’t trust that I could handle something.”

“I am sorry about that, by the way.” Penelope winces. “I was having a bad day, and I took it out on you.”

“Honestly? I feel like I should thank you. She got so mad at me when I had lied, it took me forever to get her to forgive me. And she keeps something like _that_ , a secret?” Landon shakes his head. “What kind of relationship is that? I don’t need her to protect me, I need to be her equal.”

“Hey, at least she was trying to put you first,” Penelope scoffs. “I spent nine months in a relationship where I always came in second. It felt like I was back in foster care, watching families leave, again and again. Every time I got attached, I’d be dumped on the next family.”

“It was the same way for me,” Landon says, smiling a sad smile. “I didn’t know that you were a foster kid.”

“No one knows that I was a foster kid. I was adopted when I was ten, haven’t really spoken about it since.” Penelope starts throwing small sticks into the fire.

“Not even Josie?” Landon asks, the skepticism clear in his voice. He certainly didn’t expect her to laugh.

“I never really got the chance.” She shrugs, dropping her right ear towards her shoulder.

“Really?” he asks incredulously, his eyebrows pulling downwards.

“Really,” she tells him.

 

* * *

 

 

She can’t believe that she’s sitting by a campfire with Landon Kirby, eating rabbit. She was supposed to be in Belgium, eating fine cuisine, not toasted rabbit. Oh, if Lizzie Saltzman could see her now….

“I’m not complaining, Woodstock, but you could’ve at least used some seasoning,” Penelope jokes before chewing on a particular gamey piece of rabbit and trying not to gag.

“I’m sorry, half pint, not enough rosemary?” Landon also grimaces as he takes a bit of his rabbit. “You know, just be hoppy you’re eating anything at all.” He smirks at his joke but doesn’t look up, knowing that Penelope will be shaking her head at him.

“I hate you.” She pulls off another piece of meet and puts it in her mouth trying to hide her smile. “You must really quack yourself up, huh Daffy.”

Landon smiles. This is nice, once again, it’s as though everything else has fallen away, and he’s just having a good time. His favorite part of all is the straight face that Penelope is struggling to keep. Wanting to break her he says, “Some bunny needs some vodka.” He struggles to keep his face straight as well.

“Don’t get too egg-cited, you quack, that wasn’t even bunny.” Penelope’s face doesn’t even waver. Landon can’t help it, he’s laughing once again. Penelope lasts for five more seconds before she’s laughing too.

Landon can’t believe that he is actually having fun, when he had just been kidnapped less than a day ago. He goes to say something else, but he’s met with Penelope’s hand, and he sees the smile drop from her face instantly. He goes to say something again, only to have her drop her food, and raise her finger to her lips, silencing him. She waves her hand and the fire extinguishes in a strong gust of wind.

Penelope can see the realization on his face, as they both hear the snapping of twigs and low voices getting closer.

“Maybe they’ll just pass us,” he whispers and Penelope shushes him again.

She hears the squawking of a radio. She closes her eyes in resignation when she realizes how close they are.

“I know I saw a fire over this way.” The voice was right behind her, on the other side of the tree.

Another voice cuts through the night. “Can you guys believe that we’re being sent on a wild goose chase, while Burr and his squad get to go to that school and teach those freaks a lesson.”

“The school,” Landon whispers. Penelope gives him a look that could kill.

“Did you hear that?”

“I hate you,” she growls leaping to her feet and starting to run, ignoring her pain as much as she can. Landon is quick to follow.

“Over there,” a voice yells.

“Landon run,” Penelope cries as she drops behind a fallen tree. That’s when the gunfire starts. She doesn’t watch as he puts more distance between himself and them. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. In the next second she’s on her knees facing the oncoming attackers. “ _Icaeus_.”

The man closest to her hiding spot goes flying backwards, slamming into a tree. When the bullets fly closer to her, she throws her hands forward, creating a shield that sends the bullets flying back the way they came. They’re getting closer, and she doesn’t know what to do. Any second now they’ll overwhelm her, and she’ll be dead. She can feel her power draining out of her, and the panic pouring in. She needs to end this and-

She’s distracted from her thoughts when Landon drops down next to her. She maintains her protection spell as she glances down at him, disappointed that he came back. Now two will die here instead of one.

 “I thought I told you to run Daffy.” Penelope growls, looking back towards the men coming towards them. One man pops out from behind a tree near them and she sends him flying.

“No can do short stack, you’re stuck with me.” Landon peeks his head up over the trunk to see that the men are getting closer. “They’re getting closer.”

“Great observation, Hotshot,” Penelope grouches, dropping back down behind the tree, still maintaining her spell. “I know they’re getting closer, it’s part of my plan. Now the other part requires you to run, because they’re after you, not me.”

She can feel the blood begin to drip from her nose, and her eyesight begins to tunnel.

“It’s not going to happen Penelope, I’m sticking with you.” He peaks over the tree again only to drop back down when he feels the wind of a bullet flying past his head.

Penelope’s fear starts to build even quicker, her panic is quickly accompanied by anger.

“Son of a bitch, Landon, just run.” Penelope pushes back up to her knees, getting ready to attack again, this time without holding back. “You need to get back to the school, people need you there. Think about Hope and Raf.”

“People need you too, Penelope.”

“No they don’t.”

“Yes, they do.”

“ _No,_ Landon. They don’t. Now. _Run dammit._ ” Penelope launches herself over the fallen tree. Her hand raised in front of her supporting her shield against the on pouring of bullets. “ _RUN!_ ”

With her scream, a blast of energy flies outwards sending the men flying. Everything seems to happen in slow motion as blood starts to leak from her ears and eyes as she continues screaming, and waves of magic radiate from her. The trees around them explode, shards piercing the bodies of the armored attackers.

Her vision starts to fade, along with her scream. And just like that, everything is gone.

Everything freezes for Landon as Penelope falls to the ground as though she were a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Landon jumps over the tree and falls at her side, “Penelope!”

He shakes her shoulder trying to wake her, fearing that she may be dead. He rolls her onto her back and he almost laughs in relief when she moans in protest. At least she’s still alive.

Right now that’s all that matters. He’ll worry about everything else when Penelope wakes up.

“Or,” he grumbles to himself, thinking about the way things have been going. “I’ll let her worry.” He nods to himself, standing up and making his way through the carnage before him. “Holy shit.”

He walks by a man with a chunk of wood sticking out of his side. The man groans, reaching for his gun as he watches Landon approach. Landon rushes forward in a panic and kicks the guy in the face as hard as he can. He regrets his actions when he feels pain shoot up his leg, radiating in his foot. “Ow, son of a bitch.” He reaches down and grabs the mans gun and his radio.

He makes his way back to Penelope’s still body and drops down next to her facing the bodies and wrecked trees in front of him. His gun pointing forwards.

Oh, how he wishes he could take a nap.

 

* * *

 

 

“We need to go back to the school,” Penelope’s voice startles Landon, his eyes popping wide open.

“No, no,” he says. “You said that we couldn’t go back there, for their safety.”

Penelope rolls her eyes. “And now we have to go back, _for_ their safety. We need to warn them. You heard what that guy said, there is another group just like that,” she gestures towards the bodies in front of them, “heading towards Salvatore, right now, and they don’t know what’s coming. They won’t be prepared, Landon. We have to. We can’t worry about our safety right now. Please, I’m going with or without you.”

“Penelope, it’s like five in the morning, and they have a head start. How on earth do you propose we get there? Huh? There’s no way. You know, unless you can teleport.” Landon looks at Penelope as though his suggestion is ridiculous, expecting her to agree, but the wince on her face tells him that his idea isn’t that far off. “No, no way.”

“That’s kind of one of the reasons why I was hoping you’d go with me,” Penelope tells him. “I don’t really know what the side-effects of a trip like that will be, so I may need you there, if I pass out again or if something worse happens. I hope you know CPR.” Landon looks horrified. “Relax Polly, that last part was a joke. So are you coming or not?”

Landon just stands there, unsure of what’ really been said to him. He just wanted to sleep, that’s all. So why does he have to make a decision like this instead? His head hurts.

“Come on, Matchbox.” She holds out her hand to him. “I’m leaving in five, four-”

“Really with a count down?”

“Three, two-”

Landon reaches out and grabs Penelope’s hand. “I hate you.”

“One.” She winks at him.

Everything around them disappears and the next thing he knows he’s standing in the middle of a road. Penelope drops his hand as though it burned her and runs off to the side and then drops to her knees, throwing up. Landon himself stumbles, feeling as though he too might get sick. Penelope continues to heave, unable to stop. Landon makes his way over to her and, unsure of what to do to help, starts to rub her back.

When she’s done, she shakes his hand off and rises to her feet. She looks around, trying to make out where they were, unable to see in the dark. She waves her hand in front of her eye’s and says, “ _Nox visus_.” She can see a sign in the distance and she starts limping towards it. Landon follows, annoyed that she hasn’t said anything to him.

“What are you doing?” he asks walking after her, easily catching up to her. “Penelope, will you slow down? I can’t see anything.”

Her annoyed huff makes him even madder but before he can start venting his frustration, she waves his hand in front of his eyes. “ _Nox visus_.”

And suddenly he can see. “Holy shit. What the hell? What did you just do?” He’s both amazed and freaked out at the same time.

“I feel like I’m always saying this to you, but dude, you have got to chill.” Penelope continues making her way towards the sign. Her limp is becoming more and more exaggerated. The pain on her face is even more visible now, especially because Landon can actually see it.

“Penelope,” he says reaching his hand out and grabbing her elbow. “Maybe we should slow down.”

The anger on her face startles Landon.

“We don’t have time Landon, look,” Penelope yells, pointing towards the sign in front of them. Landon turns his head towards the sign that says, ‘Now leaving Grove Hill’. “It’s a two hour walk from here to the school, and that’s at a normal walking speed. Not at a ‘I hurt my ankle, because I only ever wear heels’ speed. Not to mention we have to walk through the forest because that’s the fastest route.”

“Then let’s go.” Landon moves to stand in front of Penelope. He squats down a little bit, dropping a hint that Penelope immediately picked up.

“Oh hell no, Bird Boy. Never in a million years.” Penelope waves her hands in front of her.

“I mean, if you’re not too tired from the whole teleportation thing, and your foot is feeling better than sure, let’s walk.” Landon starts walking away. He can hear her struggle to follow and he smiles when she calls out to him.

“Fine, Zazu.” She clenches her fists in frustration. He makes his way back over to her and helps her climb onto his back. “If you ever tell anyone about this, you overgrown pigeon, I will pluck you from head to toe, one feather at a time.”

He laughs, “Okay, Pipsqueak. Whatever you say.”

“I’m not kidding, I’ll do it.”

“Oh, please,” Landon says, walking past the sign and into the woods. “You only weigh about a hundred pounds.”

“First of all, don’t exaggerate.” She gives him a small smack on the head, making him laugh. “Second of all, you’ve seen what I can do. So try me, Toucan Sam.”

 

* * *

 

 

Penelope had fallen asleep five minutes into their walk, but her arms remained tightly wrapped around his neck, her head resting on his. He was walking a little awkwardly, leaning forward to keep her from falling backwards. His hands cupped under her knees, he struggles to maintain his balance as he stumbles over the foliage. He worries that his stumble may have woken her, but she continues to sleep.

He thinks about all of the stories he had heard around the school during his short tenure there. All of those things had painted a picture of a self-serving narcissist with a love for chaos. But a day with her had shown him how warped that picture was. He didn’t understand it, really. He knew that part of that was because she wanted people to see her that way.

He knows that the situation that they are in, changes things. But he still can’t help but think that people should be able to see past her façade. He certainly did. Of course, it was easier for him, considering everything that she did contradicted what she said. He just didn’t know why she tried so hard to hide it. For Pete’s sake, the girl had fought letting him give her a piggy back ride, and yet her arms were wrapped around his neck unrelentingly.

She tries to show people that she doesn’t care, but she does. He knows it. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t even be there right now. Walking through a forest with a person on his back. No, he’d probably be swimming in a pool of tar. Or shot. But for some reason he prefers thinking about the tar thing. Less painful. But then again, if he got shot, he could come back-

Penelope’s arms tighten around his neck. He in turn tightens his hold on her legs. The sun is coming up, shining through the trees on his right. He was never really one for physical exercise, so he’s thankful that Penelope is so light. Otherwise, he’s sure that they wouldn’t have even made it this far. Though, he’s not afraid to admit, his lungs are on fire.

And he can’t feel his legs.

Just as he can make out the outline of the school through the trees and the hill starts to slope upwards, Penelope wakes. As though she could sense it. The process of her waking is slow going. Her arms tighten even more, and she nuzzles her head against his. He can tell the moment she’s fully awake and she remembers where she is, because she straightens quickly and tries to push herself off of his back.

“Hey, hey,” Landon says, leaning backwards, and squatting slightly to help lower her to the ground. “Careful, your ankle.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She yawns and stretches. “Let’s get going.”

She starts to limp up the hill once again, and she doesn’t even mention it when he ducks under her arm to help her progress. They walk in silence for some time, both eager to reach the top of the hill, hoping that they had gotten there in time.

“Hey, how did you know that it would be a two hour walk to the school,” Landon asks, pressing his hand against a tree to steady himself as they pass it.

“Really?” Penelope asks, glancing over at the curly haired boy. “That’s what you want to talk about? Really?” She hops over a rock that is protruding from the earth. “This whole thing is almost over, and you want to know how I knew how long it would take to walk to Salvatore?”

“You have to admit,” Landon begins, laughter in his voice, “you’d be curious too.”

Penelope smiles as well, her eyes still directed towards the school. “I defaced that sign with Josie one time. A girl from Grove Hill had made fun of Lizzie, and Josie wanted to get back at the whole town. So, one night we snuck out. We walked all the way there and all the way back. We made it back just before everyone started getting ready for the day. That was the most alive, I have ever seen her, and it wasn’t even for herself, it was for Lizzie.”

Her eyes have a sad look in them once again. Landon recognizes it because her eyes have that look in them more often than not, and it makes him sad as well.

“One time,” Landon says, wanting to make her feel better, “Hope blew out the windows of my bully’s car. His parents made him pay to get it fixed. That was one of the best days of my life.” He smiles at the memory. “God that was a great day.”

“You’re lucky to have someone who fights for you,” Penelope says quietly as the reach the crest of the hill. “Don’t let it slip away because of one mistake.”

They look out towards the school, and what they see makes them freeze where they stand.

“Shit,” Landon says, pulling Penelope with him as he hides behind a tree.

They both look out towards the school and the can see the same tactical vans from the warehouse, sitting in front of the school. Men with guns make their way towards the doors of the school.

“We’re too late.” Penelope’s voice is strained. “Landon, we’re too late.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! It helps my creativity when I know people like what I'm writing. So let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome!


	4. Bang Bang Bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen a little differently. But we still have some women on a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be up soon!!!! Also a TITLE CHANGE with the next chapter. THE NEW TITLE will be, "TO THE SEA". The new Title is from a song of the same name by SEAFRET. Please comment!! Also, none of this really belongs to me, just the premise of the story I'm trying to tell. Also I don't read before I post. So... there's that.

Josie understands why they couldn’t leave right away, truly she does. She understands that they need sleep after the day they had yesterday. She understands that they need to get help. What she doesn’t understand, is why it’s taking so long.

She doesn’t understand why Hope is wasting their time talking to Raf, the they all know that the young alpha can’t go.

That’s not fair and she knows it, but they don’t _have_ time to waste. Landon and Penelope need them right now. Her bag has been packed for the last hour, she’s done waiting, she’ll leave without Hope if she has too. She throws her bag over her shoulder and leaves Penelope’s room, pausing in the doorway to steal one last glance at the empty room. She closes the door behind her, gently running her hand over the wood before taking a deep breath and walking away.

She makes her way across the school to where the boys dorms are located. She pounds her fist against the door of Jed’s room, he opens it quickly as he throws his own bag over his shoulder. Josie doesn’t even get a word out before he nods and says, “Let’s go.”

Josie’s eyes widen in surprise, not expecting the dark haired boy to get ready so quickly. Especially not for Landon, the guy whom he beat the pulp out of just a few weeks ago. Jed can see the look in her eyes, the confusion, but he chooses to ignore it. He tells himself that it’s not important right now.

“Let’s go get Kaleb,” Josie says, turning and walking towards his room.

They pass three little tables with flower arrangements on them, walking for a slid minute before they get there. Josie knocks and they can hear Kaleb clambering behind the door.

“How do you know where his room is?” Jed asks. Josie raises an eyebrow and looks over her shoulder at the former alpha.

“I have been giving new student tours for years,” she says, facing back towards the door. “I know where everyone’s room is.”

“Right.” Jed’s hand shifts to the strap of his backpack, gripping it tightly. He bounces slightly on the balls of his feet, his nerves starting to shine through now that he’s not in motion.

Kaleb’s door opens, and he’s standing there, much like Jed was, ready to go. “Let’s do this.”

Josie turns without comment, and starts walking away, leaving Jed and Kaleb to follow. She can see other students slip in and out of her field of vision. Her attention focused straight ahead as she rounds a corner and heads for the stairs. She descends quickly, her feet barely touching the edges of the steps.

Josie places her hand in her pocket. She gently slides her fingers back and forth over the back of the folded pictures that reside there. She wishes she had something else, anything else of Penelope’s that she could hold. That she could keep with her. All she has are these pictures, clothes that don’t really fit because her ex was on the shorter side, and that ridiculous vase that was a present from MG.

“Is MG coming?” Josie asks Kaleb as he moves to walk next to her.

“Are you kidding me?” Kaleb asks, a grin spreading across his face. “That kid would never pass up an opportunity to be a superhero. He just wanted to talk to snake girl before we left. He’s probably waiting for us with Hope.”

Josie can’t help but smile at his words, rounding the corner and heading for the front door. The effect is ruined however when they come to a stop in front of Hope and Raf. Lizzie appearing next to them sparks annoyance in Josie.

“She’s coming?” they both ask. Josie roles her eyes at the fact that Lizzie feels like she has the right to be the annoyed one here.

“We need all of the help we can get,” Hope says, addressing Josie and not willing to deal with this right now, “so please, put your twin war on pause.”

Raf finally tears his eyes away from Jed to ask Hope, “Why is he going? He hates Landon.”

Jed roles his eyes, turning away from Raf minutely before turning back and looking him in the eye. “Look, you’re the alpha,” he says. Rafael glares at him. “If Landon is your pack, that makes him ours.”

Josie looks over at Jed. She didn’t believe him. While what he said sounded truthful, there was something in his eyes that told her that she was missing something.

“Where’s MG at?” Kaleb asks, when he doesn’t see him.

“He’s on his way,” Hope says. “Let’s load up while we wait for him, come on.”

Hope walks towards the doors of the school that lead to the car port, and her friends follow.

“I thought we needed to wait for the keys.” Lizzie says, her steps skipping a little so she can catch up. At this point, Josie’s responding eyeroll is just a reflex.

“I’m done waiting,” Hope says pulling the door open. Kaleb reaches next to her and does the same with the other door. “We’re gonna hotwire the car.”

When they exit the school, and round the steps they are met by men in tactical gear. These are the men from their visions of Landon and Penelope. Men in riot gear step forward with the man in the front.

“Oh, sorry,” the mystery man says. “We were about to knock.”

Josie can feel a heat behind her eyes when she sees him and the men behind him. If they were here, what happened to Penelope? The thought of wanting to kill them startles her.

“Who the hell are you?” Lizzie asks, taking a small step closer, trying to intimidate.

“Name’s Burr,” the man responds, smiling slightly. “Triad Industries.”

“ _Repelliere_.” Hope moves her hands in symmetric circles, her palms facing up. They all expect the men to go flying, but nothing happens.

They look at each other, each searching for an answer. Not finding any Kaleb nods his head and drops his bag to the ground. “I got this.” He runs forward, but the second his skin enters the sunlight, he starts to burn. He cries out in pain and stumbles back in fear.

“What you don’t got,” Burr says, “is magic. Which is why your daylight ring won’t work.” He looks them all in they eyes, one by one. “And what we have are stakes, wolfsbane, and other things. So I think you should invite us inside.”

Lizzie advances towards the men as though she plans to attack, but Josie’s hand on her forearm stops her. She looks over at her twin in frustration and is met with a steely glare. “Stop,” Josie says. “If we make them mad, they can kill everyone here.”

“She’s right,” Hope says, talking out of the side of her mouth as Lizzie rips her arm away from her sister.

None of the teens dare to utter another word as they turn, raising their hands up near their shoulders in surrender. They enter the school, and they can do nothing but watch as the men file in and start forcing all of the students towards the dining hall. Josie’s stomach drops with the realization that these men could kill ant of them at any second. She can do nothing but watch as Burr waves a gun in the faces of the younger kids when one stumbles over their own feet.

She honestly doesn’t know how they are going to get out of this one.

 

* * *

 

 

“We’re almost there,” Penelope pants out. Her hand is against the wall, using it for support. Landon glances at her, his eyes wide and his eyebrows furrowed.

“I don’t know how you’re still standing Penelope,” Landon breathes, walking slightly behind her, ready to catch her if she falls. He feels like he’s ready to keel over, he can’t imagine how she must be feeling right now.

“I could say the same for you, Landon.” She glances at him over her shoulder, her pace refusing to slow. “You carried a person on your back for over two hours.”

“A small person.” He receives a sharp glare in response.

“I’m going to assume that it’s adrenaline, Nixy.” She takes a deep breath. “I’m probably going to sleep for at least a week.”

“Same, small fry, same,” Landon reaches out and pats her shoulder.

They continue forward, as quietly as they can manage. The air around them is cold. When Landon sees Penelope shiver he moves to take of his jacket. She sees the movement out of the corner of her eye, and she raises her hand to refuse him. Only to let out an irritated huff when she’s ignored.

Landon doesn’t buy it for a second. A bounce makes its way into his step when he sees her push her arms through the sleeves.

“Wipe that smirk off your face Landon.” Penelope doesn’t even have to look over her shoulder to know that it’s there.

He doesn’t.

It only grows.

As they approach a bend they hear voices bouncing off the walls. Thankfully, unlike the last time, Landon doesn’t need to be told to be quiet. Penelope holds her hand out behind her and Landon doesn’t hesitate to reach out and grab it.

“ _Invisique_.”

They round the corner, and Penelope knows that Landon won’t be able to help it. What else do you do when you see blood fountain over a twisted stack of skulls? Penelope, she stays quiet. Though she does drop her chin to her chest and think of a few choice words.

The newbie firebird? “That’s disgusting.”

“What was that?” one of the three men in the room with them asks.

Penelope raises her hand in front of her eyes to block out the onslaught of light from the bright flashlights. She turns her head to look at a pale Landon. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

“Who’s there?” the second guy calls out. He obviously receives no reply. “I just heard you little girl, I know you’re there.” Again, Penelope says nothing. She pulls at Landon and they start making their way around the men. Their backs graze the bones of the wall behind them.

“Your magic can’t help you now,” the first guy says. Penelope and Landon pause, their confused gazes finding the other. She can see the question in his eyes, but she can only shrug. She doesn’t know what he’s talking about either. Her eyes are drawn to the skull fountain, and Landon follows her gaze when he sees it turn away.

“Radio Burr,” the last guy says, still searching for the source of the disturbance. “Let him know that somethings wrong down here and that he needs to send reinforcements.”

Penelope doesn’t give the man a chance to reach for his radio. She quickly raises both of her hands, her thumb and first two fingers pointing upwards. Twisting her wrist she says, “ _Me ne de qual suurentaa_.”

All three men drop to the ground dead, and Landon’s mouth drops open in shock.

“You didn’t have to kill them Penelope,” he hisses, stumbling after her as she walks through the doorway, turning to her right and bounding up the stairs two at a time.

“I couldn’t risk them giving us away Landon. If someone finds out that we’re here, and that I have my magic, they might start killing people.” Penelope pauses at the top of the stairs and waits for Landon to catch up.

“But you didn’t have to kill them.” Landon moves up the stairs meeting Penelope on the landing at the top of the stairs. “Doctor Saltzman said that that kind of magic is bad for you, that it damages your soul or something.”

Penelope reaches her hand out and grasps the doorknob causing Landon to rock forward on his toes expecting her to open the door, only to have to rock back when she doesn’t open the door. She looks at her feet, not wanting to look up, but knowing she has to. When she does, Landon sees a look in her eyes that he hasn’t seen before.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Landon,” she says, not breaking their eye contact. “I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

He hates that.

It makes him so angry.

The look on her face is all too familiar to him.

He wants to yell. He would have if she hadn’t opened the door and exited the tunnel’s stairwell forcing him to follow quietly. His jaw clenches tightly, his teeth grinding. He knows what she’s feeling, he knows it all too well.

The door they exit through leads to a room next to the kitchen. The second the door closes behind them, they are surrounded by chaos. Students are rushing by, throwing open doors and cabinets. There is a cacophony of sound, and Penelope instinctively moves her hands towards her ears before realizing what she was doing them and lowering immediately. If Landon saw anything he doesn’t mention it, and it’s something that she’s glad for.

“What are they looking for?” Landon asks, observing those around them who walk past as though no one was there. “It’s not me. They sent a different team after us. So what do they want here?”

“I bet they’re looking for the last artifact,” Penelope whispers. “They probably think that you’ve already activated it and they want to destroy it.”

“But why would they think that it was here?” Landon asks, sliding along the wall after her.

“All of the other artifacts ended up here.”

“Right.”

“We need to get to Dr. Saltzman’s office, he’ll have something in there that can help.” They both exit the kitchen at her words, pressing even tighter against the wall. Penelope sees a Triad guy push one of the younger students and she has to slap the back of her hand against Landon’s chest pinning him to the wall. “Don’t,” she warns. “We can’t interfere until we absolutely have to. We don’t want them to know that we’re here.”

Landon nods, though it looks forced, his reluctance apparent in his eyes. He forces his eyes away from the sight. “Let’s go.”

They start moving once again. Penelope’s socked feet are silent against the polished wood floors. Landon’s shoes make a little more noise, forcing him to slow his steps ever so slightly. By some miracle they make it into the dining hall and see the majority of the students in there. Who they don’t see are the twins, Hope, and Alaric. They search all of the faces in the crowd, hoping that they had just over looked them, but they still find nothing.

“We need to split up.” Penelope looks around the room, trying to formulate a plan. “I’ll go to Dr. Saltzman’s office, you go check the dorms and see if you can find our girls.”

Landon realizes that Penelope didn’t even notice that she said, ‘our girls’. The thought makes him smile again in spite of the situation they are currently in. This girl. He gives her an awkward thumbs up, backing away from her and heading towards the stairs. “Got it.”

“And remember-” she calls after him.

“Not unless I have too, I know.” Penelope watches as the heads of the students around him turn in search of source of the voice, finding only their friends.

Penelope starts walking towards Alaric’s office, following a similar path to the one she took the night Landon had been taken. This time however, everything around her is in pieces. Paintings have been knocked off the walls, vases shattered on the ground at her feet, petals shredded and crushed- scattered amongst the glass and water. Triad marches down the halls in pairs, manhandling any child who gets in their way. She’s getting angry.

She makes her way through the small seating area outside of Alaric’s office. Her hands press heavily against the top of the chairs there as she walks towards his doors. Her heart races when she sees that his doors are open and she can hear voices coming from inside.

“These bullets were formed from the mud of the Malivore pit and weaponized by Triad’s scientists.” She quickens her slow pace, limping painfully towards the door trying once again to not make any noise. “It can break the skin of any supernatural like a hot knife through butter, fester, infect them, disintegrate them. From the inside out.”

She’s closer, just a few more steps and she’ll be able to see what’s happening.

“We don’t know where the chalice is.”

Josie.

She’d recognize that voice anywhere. Everything freezes for Penelope as dread overwhelms her. She turns and sees Hope, Lizzie, and Josie, it had to be Josie, standing in front of a man with a gun that he flips closed.

“I believe you.” He starts raising his gun. “This is just for fun really. Ein-y.” Hope. “Mean-y.” Josie. Penelope can’t breathe as she eases closer, praying that he won’t shoot. “Mine-y.” Lizzie. He starts moving the gun back towards Josie and Penelope stops caring. Everyone moves at once.

“Mo.” Lizzie starts to rush the man, but when Josie sees what’s going to happen, she rushes forward with a look of determination on her face, placing herself between the man and Lizzie. Penelope is almost there. But as usual, her almost is never good enough. The man gets two shots off before Penelope can shield the three girls.

As she stands in front of them, as they fall to the ground behind her, as the man fires a third bullet- Penelope can’t stop thinking of all of the things she did wrong. Why didn’t she kill him? Why didn’t she shield the girls with magic? Why didn’t she move faster? Why? Why? Why?

The third bullet lodges itself  right under her ribs. The force of the blow pushes he back a step, but she doesn’t go down. She looks up, confused, as though she didn’t expect to be shot, even though she knew that she could be if she stepped in front of the girls. She presses her hand to the wound as tears build in her eyes. The man looks right through her, and she turns to find Josie on the floor, Hope and Lizzie kneeling next to her.

“Oh my,” Lizzie says unable to finish her sentence. Her hands hover over her sister unsure of what to do and afraid to touch her.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Hope runs her hands over Josie’s arm, trying to comfort her. He face the picture of shock.

Penelope wants to go to her. She wants to pull her close and tell her that everything is going to be okay. But when she tries to move forward, her feet don’t listen and she stumbles to the side, collapsing against the desk. She tries to stop it but her body sinks to the floor, her body bends at an awkward angle forcing her to drop a hand from the top of the desk and twist. He butt hits the floor roughly when her descent is finished.

“Lock them up.”

She’s forced to watch as more men enter the room and advance on the other girls. She can’t even protest as they haul Josie to her feet, her cry of pain and Hope and Lizzie’s cries of outrage hurt her even more. She can’t move and she can’t figure out why. She wants to follow but she can’t. She can’t.

She slams her fist against the floor next to her, frustration forcing tears and sobs out of her mouth. The men leave and now she’s alone in Alaric’s office, sitting on his floor with pain radiating through her body with every breath that she takes. An indeterminable amount of time passes, and she still can’t move. She doesn’t care anymore. She doesn’t care if someone hears her, she starts to yell. Her voice strains, her throat stings, her chest burns. She knows this is where she’s going to die. Alone on the cold unwelcoming floor, knowing that her love will follow soon after.

As though he sensed her thoughts, Landon bursts into the office, his eyes wild. He scans the room his gaze passing over Penelope on the floor initially, then jumping straight to her. His eyes widen even more than she thought possible, and he runs to her side.

“You know,” he says, kneeling down next to her, “if you keep this up, one might start to think that you’re reckless and a danger to yourself.”

Her laugh is wet and hoarse. His presence calms her more than she thought it would. His arrival brought with it hope. She was going to get out of here, it would be okay.

“I never said I wasn’t.” Penelope’s head rolls against the dark wood of Alaric’s desk and she holds out her arm for Landon to grab.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” he asks, his eyes looking for anything that could be ailing her.

“I couldn’t find anything.” Penelope runs a hand over her face, and streak of blood trailing in its wake.

When he sees the blood, he questions her in alarm, “Are you okay?”

“It’s not mine,” she lies, not wanting him to get distracted.

“Okay,” he says. “Why are you on the ground?”

“I tripped and couldn’t get back up,” she growls her anger rising. “Now, are you going to keep interrogating me or are you going to help me up? Because we’ve got work to do my feathery friend.” She doesn’t tell him what happened. She doesn’t really know why, but she does know that he’d waste their time worrying if he did.

She looks at the ground where Josie had fallen and finds a small amount of blood there, staining the rug, and suddenly all of her relief and hopelessness is replaced with anger. Fiery, destructive, anger.

Landon stands, but he hesitates. He sees the look in her eyes, and a part of him thinks that he should leave her there. But the other part of him wants to let her loose, knowing that those men could get hurt in the process. He wants to kill them too, especially after seeing them hit the little kids for crying. He remembers wishing someone would kill his foster parents when they did that to him.

In the end he reaches down with both hands, grabbing her wrist and elbow, pulling her to her feet. She ends up supporting her weight when she stumbles into him, her hand pressing against her abdomen. He pushes her back slightly, his hands gripping her upper arms tightly.

“Are you okay?”

Penelope straightens, standing taller than he’s seen her stand since they escaped Triads headquarters. She pulls the bottom corners of his coat closer together and zips it all the way up. “I’m fine. Now stop asking.”

He nods and walks out of the office, leading for the first time, finally being the one who has to be followed. His small victory is short lived when he realizes that he doesn’t know what to do now. He turns and sees that Penelope is standing in the doorway of Alaric’s office, a skeptical smirk gracing her eyes and lips.

“Ah,” he says. “Right.” He nods his head and his lips purse. He steps backwards, gesturing for Penelope to lead the way.

“Are you sure, Batman?” She asks as she approaches him. Her arms are crossed in front of her. “Wouldn’t want Wonder Woman to step on your toes, now would we?” She reaches out and pats his cheek lightly as she swaggers past.

“Shut up,” he says, rolling his eyes. He’s following after her when it hits him. “Wait a minute.” He whispers, he sees her back stiffen. “Did you just reference a comic book?”

“Maybe,” she says quietly, her cheeks flushing. She doesn’t let him continue talking, “Shut up. Focus.”

“Okay.” He chuckles to himself. Who knew Miss Queen Bee was a secret nerd? He smiles when it turns out to be Penelope who couldn’t let it go.

“So I liked comics as kid. So what?” she asks, getting defensive, for a reason unknown to him. “They were all I really had as a kid who couldn’t read. Okay? It’s not like-”

“Hey,” he interrupts her, reaching out and grasping her shoulder. “I’m not judging Penelope. I get it trust me.”

She just nods and continues on her way. They enter the dining hall once again to find that all of the students have congregated there once more. They weave in and out of kids, teens, and Triad alike, flicking their bodies this way and that to avoid touching any of them. Penelope’s plan forms in her head the second that she sees Pedro stealing stuff from the passing men and handing it to the kids behind him.

Penelope grabs a taser from the belt of a passing Triad soldier and holds it out for Landon to grab. He scowls when he sees it. “I hate these things.”

“I wonder why,” Penelope responds dryly, giving the taser a little shake for him to grab. She pauses when she sees a young witch’s eyes widen at the sight of the floating gun. “ _Invisique_.”

The witch turns to run when the gun disappears, and if she wasn’t so stressed, Penelope would’ve laughed.

“Why do I need this?” Landon asks as he takes the taser from Penelope, holding it between his thumb and forefinger.

“Just in case,” Penelope tells him. They are standing at the bottom of the stairs, and when she turns her head to check their surroundings, she sees MG standing at the top. “We need to split up. I’m going to go see if I can turn everyone’s magic back on, you keep an eye on that Burr guy. If he even so much as reaches for his gun you taze him. Do you understand?”

“Gladly.” Landon’s response is dark, and Penelope sees a look in his eyes that she hadn’t before.

They start walking away from each other, Penelope gets five steps away before she turns back around. “And Landon?” she calls. The dark haired teen turns back to look at her. “Aim for the balls.”

Landon winces at the thought, but then he nods a look of admiration spreading across his lips. “I like the way you think Wonder Woman.”

“I hate you.” Penelope shakes her head and walks away, ignoring the boy’s laughter as it follows her. She also chooses to ignore the startled looks that fall across the faces of the students around them. She takes comfort in the fact that this’ll all be over soon. They’re almost there. And when it’s over, she’ll finally get some real sleep.

And maybe a hug from Josie.

She hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REMINDER OF THE TITLE CHANGE TO, "TO THE SEA" COMING WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER. Please comment and let me know what you're thinking! Next chapter up soon! I can't wait for you to see what's next! Comments fuel my needy creativity!


	5. Tazing Some Balls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit's getting real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title has been changed. Please comment, as stated before, it fuels my obnoxious, selfish, evil soul. Also, kinda a long chapter. Sorry, not sorry. Borrowed some dialogue from the show. Not mine. Didn't preview

Penelope almost freezes when she hears voices drifting up from the tunnels

“In a shocking turn of events I ignored you.” Her footsteps slow when recognizes the first voice as Hope.

“Yeah, Hope, about that-” Her pace quickens when she recognizes the voice of Dr. Saltzman. Once again, there was hope at the end of the tunnel. She winces at the unintended pun.

“Save the speech okay? I’ve paid the price.” Penelope has to stop herself from scoffing when she hears that. Paid the price her ass. Penelope paid the price.

“I see that. What happened to your arm?” Their conversation is becoming louder the closer that Penelope gets to the bottom of the stairs. She’s now slumped against heavily against the wall, sliding against it as she descends the stairs.

“That Triad guy shot at us with Malivore mud. He must’ve gotten me too. I didn’t even feel it. Because it doesn’t affect me.”

Penelope stops. She stops moving. She stops listening. She stops everything. Why wouldn’t the bullet affect Hope? Penelope’s mind starts running a mile a minute. It all comes back to Triad and this Malivore thing that she had read about. She runs through everything that she had read, everything that she had heard and seen.

She still doesn’t fully understand when she tunes back into their conversation.

“Wait give her a vial of my blood. From the werewolf bite cures.” And just like that, everything clicks for Penelope.

Triad. Tribrid. If Hope thinks that her blood is a cure for these mud bullets, then that must mean that her blood can be used _against_ Malivore. And if she’s leaving, Penelope knows that she’s about to do something stupid. Because if Hope is even half as smart as Penelope then she must’ve figured it out as well. And if she figured it out, and she thinks that Landon is still there and in danger, then that means that she’ll ‘do what’s necessary’.

“Wait why?” Alaric asks, and Penelope rolls her eyes. He should’ve figured it out as well. Penelope starts forward again, wanting to follow Hope and let her know that Landon is okay, but she doesn’t get the chance. A Triad soldier pushes past her, the cloth covering his shoulder brushing the front of Landon’s jacket.

“I’ll explain later too.”

Penelope doesn’t stick around to see Alaric get caught. She’s already racing up the stairs. She has to find Landon. When she finally reaches the top of the steps, she bursts through the door and for the second time that day when she exited that stairwell, she’s surrounded by chaos. Men in tactical gear are flying everywhere as she races through the halls.

She sees a man ahead of her raise a stake to a vampire whose back is turned. The young vampire doesn’t even see it coming, the look on his face ignorant of what is about to come, so Penelope acts. She races forward and punches the man in the face. He stumbles backwards clutching his jaw. The vampire turns around at the noise and punches him again. The man falls to the ground unconscious and the stake rolls out of his now slack hold.

It continues like that, Penelope wades her way through the multiple skirmishes. She kicks, punches, and punches her way through. She grabs the back of a man’s bullet proof vest and yanks him away from a wolf who was losing. She ducks a man’s wide punch and swings around behind him, kicking him behind his knee. He falls forward onto his hands and knees. Penelope jumps forward, punching downwards as she lands, hitting the man in the temple and watching as he collapses to the ground unconscious.

She shakes her hand out, as the pain shoots through it. All of this movement makes her feel sick and the pain that radiates through her body, stemming from her bullet wound makes her want to puke. Her breathing is ragged and shallow. She can feel beads of sweat roll down her face and back, causing her shirt to stick to her back.

She spins, looking for Landon. She doesn’t find him. What she does find, is Josie sitting on a table her sister standing beside her. And a Triad agent sneaking up behind them. She is really tired of these guys playing dirty. These cowards only attack when they think that they can win. They attack when backs are turned and when people are smaller than them. And now someone is trying to do the same thing to Josie.

Penelope races forward and launches herself onto the man’s back. The force of the impact throws the two of them forward. She wraps her arm around his throat and starts to squeeze. He stumbles to the side, slamming into a chair. His hands come up to pry Penelope’s arm away from his throat. The commotion draws the attention of the twins in front of them, and though she doesn’t realize it, Josie briefly makes eye contact with Penelope.

“What’s happening to him?” Josie asks, her voice is week, and she looks as pale as a ghost. The skin around her eyes are dark, making her look even more sickly. Lizzie steps in front of her sister and raises her hands ready to blast him, and subsequently Penelope, away. But the man stops struggling and falls to his knees. Penelope barely manages to catch herself and stop herself from falling forward with him. He lands face first on the hard wood floor.

“Josie,” Lizzie says, turning to look at her sister over her shoulder. “Let’s get you upstairs okay? You need to lay down, you’re not looking too good.”

Penelope wants to follow, to finally speak to the brunette. But she doesn’t get the chance. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Landon exit the dining hall. She wipes her face, unsticking the sweat drenched hair that is plastered there. She is so sick and tired of all of this running shit.

She races after him. And once again, she’s forcing her way through the fray. This time she doesn’t bother with kicking and pushing. The pain that radiates through her hand when she’s punching providing a distraction from the pain under her chest. She’s sure that she must’ve broken at least a few bones by now, but that doesn’t slow her. The skin on her knuckle split open with a particularly hard punch to a man’s jaw. But it’s worth it because though her progress was slow, she’s finally outside and down the front steps.

She sees Landon standing in front of the doors to the school’s bus pointing the taser into the vehicle. She skids to a painful halt at his side, ready to ask him why he hasn’t fired yet when he sees the same man from earlier pointing his gun at a kid.

“I can’t shoot him,” Landon whispers, not even daring to blink, let alone turn his eyes away from the man. “He might hurt one of the kids.” Penelope nods her understanding and pushes Landon backwards a little.

“Okay,” she says. “Get ready.”

Landon nods raising the taser higher. In his peripheral vison he can see Penelope raise her hands. As she does so the rest of her body starts to bow inwards, as though the stretch of straightening is painful. He wants to say something, but in true Penelope fashion, she doesn’t give him a chance. Because suddenly she’s yanking her hands sideways and the man goes flying out of the bus.

He can hear the sounds of growling approaching, and he can see men flying in random directions over the downed man’s body. The Triad leader pushes himself up and scrambles for his gun, searching for the cause of his spontaneous flight. With him on his knees twisting left and right, Landon finally has a clear shot and he doesn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. Next to the man a werewolf appears, and MG’s voice rings out to their left.

The man continues to writhe as MG speaks, “I’ve got it from here Raf.” Landon perks at the mention of his brother’s name. They both watch as Raf starts to sniff at their feet, his tail wagging when he stops in front of Landon.

“He’s not going to pee himself is he?” Penelope whispers as quietly as she can, not wanting to draw the vampires attention. However she does receive a growl from the wolf in response.

Landon doesn’t get a chance to tell Penelope to be nice because MG starts talking first, “Hit the woods until Hope comes back.”

The man in front of them continues to scream and twist in pain. “What did he do to you?” MG asks quietly. Unfortunately his voice gives the thrashing man a target. He raises his gun, but before he can shoot, his skin starts turning into stone. Landon drops the taser as it starts to turn too.

MG’s question goes unanswered as he turns away from them to talk to the gorgon. Penelope seizes her chance to pull Landon away. She pulls him towards the Triad vehicles and he looks at her in confusion. He doesn’t even bother to ask, because he knows that she’ll just tell him.

“You need to get going.” Penelope leads him further down the drive way. An unwitting soldier crosses their path and Landon watches as Penelope lashes out and punches the guy. He drops like a sack of potatoes and Landon has to restrain himself from clapping slowly and nodding his head in appreciation. The brief glance that Penelope throws him tells him she knew what he was thinking.

“But we’re done,” he says. Still being led by Penelope tugging his arm. “We’ve won.”

“Not yet we haven’t.” Penelope stops finally finding an SUV with the keys till in the ignition. These guys were idiots. “Your girlfriend is about to go bark up the wrong evil tree. She’s heading to Malivore right now, and you need to go stop her. She’s about to do something stupid.”

“What?” he asks, trying to process it all. “What does that mean? What’s she going to do?”

“I don’t know Landon,” Penelope lies and turns back towards the school, knowing that she has to hurry if her plan is going to work. “I just know that she left and you need to stop her, so go.”

“I don’t know how to get there Penelope.” Landon’s voice is frantic. Penelope looks through the window at the interior of the car.

“There’s a GPS,” she says turning him towards the door. You know what town it’s in, you just have to get there. Now go, I’ll meet you there if I can, okay? Go.”

Landon places his hand on the handle of the black SUV. “How are you going-” He doesn’t need to finish the question because the look that Penelope gives him jumpstarts his memory. “Right. Teleportation magic. Got it.”

He opens the door, but before he can get inside Penelope calls out to him, “Landon, wait.”

He pauses and looks back at her. “Yeah?”

She reaches out and rests her hand on top of the one he has holding the car door open. “ _Visique_.” Penelope disappears. “An invisible driver is a prank you and I will have to pull on law enforcement some other time.” She smiles at him weakly. It’s then that he realizes that she’s even more paler than she had been only moments ago.

“Penelope, you don’t look too good, are you sure you’re okay?” He holds the back of his hand to her forehead. “Jesus, you’re burning up. What’s wrong half pint?”

The short, raven-haired girl gives him a strained smile, “I’ve just overexerted myself a little bit, that’s all. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” she huffs in mock annoyance. She waves her hands at him, trying to usher him into the car. “Now go get your girl. I’ll get there when I can.”

Landon just smiles at her as he opens the door and hops in. Penelope gives him a small wave before heading back towards the school. Landon closes the door and starts the car. He pushes the car into reverse and drives past the gates of the school. When he’s on the road, he turns and puts the car into drive. Knowing that he doesn’t have time to waste, he slams his foot down on the gas, his head jerking backwards slightly at the force in which the car leaps forward.

“Hello Landon.”

Landon will go to his grave swearing that the scream that came out of his mouth was manly.

 

* * *

 

 

Penelope has officially made the decision that after this day she was never going to run again, she didn’t care if her ass was being chased by a fucking dragon, ‘ _this bitch is going to walk’_. That is what she’s thinking as runs up the stairs towards Josie’s bedroom. Using the banister to haul herself up at times when her legs refuse to push. Her lungs are on fire as her chest heaves, trying to draw in deep breaths.

Her Landon’s jacket rhythmically bumping against her bullet wound eventually forces her to stop running. She staggers to the wall and presses her hand against it for support. She proceeds to throw up everything that had been in her stomach, which had been next to nothing. That’s why she’s so alarmed when the stuff that comes out of her mouth is a dark muddy substance. Dread fills her for the umpteenth time that day alone.

She turns and places her back against the wall, sliding down a little when her legs give out, before catching herself. She reaches up with shaking hands and unzips Landon’s jacket roughly. Her hands grip at the hem of her shirt clumsily, and when she pulls it up everything around her goes silent. Dark veins stretch across her torso, now reaching up towards her heart. They are starting to wrap around towards her back. Her veins are turning rigid and are starting to raise above her sickly skin.

Her wound is festered and ugly. However, her main concern is her heart. If this stuff gets to her heart, she knows she’s dead if that happens. She presses her hand to her heart, “ _Resistus venenom_.” She traces a circles around her heart and chants, “ _Defendere corde, defendere corde, defendere corde._ ” She continues with her movements until a scar like mark appears. She knows that it won’t stop it completely, but she sure as hell hopes that it’ll slow the poison down.

She’s only just composed herself enough to push off of the wall when she sees Alaric running down the hall towards her on his way to his daughters’ room. Penelope audibly groans as he flies past her, forcing her to chase after him. He tears through the hallway ignoring the students who call out to him, not even checking on the students who he bumps into. He’s a man on a mission, and so is Penelope. Well, she’s a woman on a mission, she corrects herself as she slams into a wall at the end of the hall, not capable of turning as sharply as the headmaster.

Her knees are threatening to give out and her thighs are on fire. The twins door is the last one at in the hall, and the distance between the duo and the door closes faster than Penelope thought it would. She also thought that Alaric would have heard her by now, but it’s probably for the best that he hasn’t yet.

He opens the door and enters the room and Penelope can hear Lizzie’s voice, “Daddy, this is so bad.”

Her words cause Penelope’s heart to clench in fear. She puts on one last burst of speed and the sight that she finds in the room makes everything around her slow down.

She sees the tears on Lizzies cheeks. She sees Josie curled up on her side, her breathing quick and rapid. Penelope’s eyes and nose start to burn when she see Josie in so much pain. She watches as Alaric runs to Josie and kneels in front of her frantically trying to uncork the vial of Hope’s blood. And before she even registers that she’s doing it she’s throwing her hand out and summoning the vial to her. The heartbroken fear on Alaric and Lizzie’s faces and the confused distress on Josie’s almost gives her pause.

But she doesn’t stop.

Alaric pushes to his feet, ready to charge after the vial of blood. Josie tries to push herself up, but the agony on her face pushes Penelope over the edge.

“ _Ad somnum_.” Penelope makes a fist and both Josie and Alaric collapse. The force of the headmaster hitting the floor shaking a picture off of Lizzie’s bedside table, the glass shattering in the frame.

There are several problems that stem from her performing this spell, however.

The spell has absolutely no effect on Lizzie.

“Penelope?” Lizzie asks, pushing herself to her knees on the bed. She looks Penelope right in the eye. “What the hell?”

“You can see me?” Penelope asks, temporarily dumbfounded.

“Penelope now is not the time for your shit, okay?” Lizzie’s voice cracks and Penelope can see the desperation on the blonde’s face.  “Josie is-”

“Yeah I know.” Penelope walks as steadily as she can to Josie’s side, stepping inelegantly over Dr. Saltzman. Her hands land heavily on the mattress and she kneels down in front of her.

“Penelope, she needs that.” Lizzie grabs for the vial of blood, but Penelope swiftly drops it into the pocket of Landon’s jacket. “Penelope,” her voice is quiet and shaky, “please.”

Penelope’s gaze doesn’t waver from Josie’s face. She reaches out and cups the brunette’s jaw, her thumb stroking Josie’s fevered cheek. The tears finally slipping from her eyes. “I know Lizzie.” She looks up at the blonde, sniffing as she raises her other hand to wipe her cheek. Her hand is still shaking while it drags across her cheek. “I’m going to fix this I promise, I just need you to trust me okay?”

“How can I do that? You just spelled my dad and Josie,” Lizzie says.

“First of all, your dad would’ve tried to stop me,” Penelope says, pushing Josie’s shoulder, so that she would lay on her back. “Second, right now your sister isn’t feeling any pain. Which will make my job easier.”

“Penelope, what are you talking about?” Lizzie shifts her weight again, placing her hands on Josie’s shoulder and thigh. She watches as Penelope struggles to her feet. She takes in her pale and sweaty appearance. She sees the dark veins peeking over the neck of her shirt. “Penelope.”

She follows the blonde’s line of sight. When she sees that the poison has spread, she roughly pulls the jacket over the exposed skin, trying to hide it. “It’s not-”

“The third bullet.”

“What?” Penelope brushes the hair out of Josie’s face, trying to brush off Lizzie’s question.

“That Burr guy shot at us three times.” Lizzie leans over her sister and tries to push aside the jacket, but Penelope slaps her hand away. “Where bullet number one went is clearly obvious.” She gestures to her sister, “I saw Hope’s jacket, bullet two.”

“Okay Lizzie I get it,” Penelope says. “Now I need you to be quiet so I can heal your sister, okay?”

“Just give her the blood,” Lizzie tells her, scooting even closer to her sister and subsequently Penelope.

“I can’t Lizzie, I need it.” Penelope turns around ignoring Lizzie.

“For yourself?” Lizzie asks in disbelief. “What about my sister? You claim to love her and you-”

“Jesus Lizzie!” Penelope whirls around to face her, a shard of glass in her hand. “Do you ever shut up? I need the blood for something else! If what I’m about to try doesn’t work then I’ll give her the blood okay?”

“How do I know you won’t just take it for yourself?” Her words make Penelope lose it.

“Son of a bitch Lizzie,” she yells her voice watery and cracking. She lifts up her shirt and shows Lizzie her stomach. When Lizzie sees Penelope’s wound she feels sick. “Look Lizzie, it’s too late for me. That small vial of blood won’t change anything, okay? It’s not enough. Now shut the hell up and let me save Josie.”

“Why is it affecting you more than Josie?” Lizzie asks.

“I have my theories,” Penelope mumbles. She presses the shard of glass into her left palm and splits the skin. Cutting it deep, causing her to wince and Lizzie to recoil in repulsion.

“What the hell Penelope?”

“Lizzie, I know that you’re worried right now, but I need you to shut. The. Hell. Up,” Penelope growls. She puts the glass in her jacket pocket with the blood.

Lizzie watches in silence as she clenches her fist and lets her blood drip in a circle around Josie’s bullet wound. Lizzie’s nose scrunches in disgust. Surprise quickly finds it’s way on to her face however when dark, bloody sludge starts rolling out of the wound. It’s a long, slow process. At one point Penelope has to tell Lizzie to knock Alaric and Josie out again. They fall into a bit of a rhythm. Penelope makes a slow circle around the bullet hole with her blood, and when the Malivore sludge mixes with the blood, Lizzie wipes it away with a cloth.

Their time on that bed is approaching an hour, and Lizzie’s worry has shifted from Josie to the raven-haired witch standing over her sleeping sister. Because, while Josie’s breathing and color has improved drastically, Penelope’s has only gotten worse. If it weren’t for the fact that she was worried about the poison that was still in her sisters system, then she would have told Penelope to take a break.

Finally, after a few more minutes, when Penelope pours her blood around the wound, nothing comes out. They wait for ten minutes, and when nothing comes, they both breath a heavy sigh of relief.

They watch as Josie take a deep breath through her nose and exhales it slowly through her mouth. Lizzie wants nothing more than to embrace her sister, but something tells her that now isn’t the time. She would turn away when she sees Penelope stroke her sisters cheek and kiss her forehead, but she’s afraid to turn away. Penelope’s lips are still pressed to Josie’s head when she starts to nod. A tear falling from her eye and splashing in the brunette hair that is splayed there.

Penelope pulls back and lays her forehead against her Josie’s. She takes a long deep breath before stepping back and looking Lizzie in the eyes.

“I was never here,” Penelope tells her, raising her hand to stop Lizzie when she tries to interrupt. “As far as they’re concerned, Josie drank the blood.”

“Why?” Lizzie asks, as she watches Penelope back away from the bed.

“I can’t risk anyone trying to follow me,” Penelope says, taking deep breaths to prepare herself for what she’s about to do. “If my plan doesn’t work than you all need to be very far away from there.”

“ _Invisique_ ,” Penelope says, disappearing from Lizzie’s view. “Take care of Josie Lizzie.”

“Penelope, wait,” Lizzie calls. “She’s gone already isn’t she?” she asks the empty room.

“Nah, Saltzman,” Penelope’s voice comes from behind her, making her jump and clasp her hand over her heart. “Just thought I’d mess with you one last time.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Lizzie admonishes. “Penelope? Penelope?”

But Penelope was actually gone this time. The tired and battered witch appearing in a cavernous room almost six hundred miles away. She’s standing on the edge of the pit. She chooses not to stumble away when she feels the bile rise in her throat, choosing instead to bend over the dark pool and heave disgusting black goo into the mud pool. She straightens when she finishes and wipes her mouth a small grin stretching the corner of her lips.

She staggers over to the wall and sits down across from the pit. Now all she has to do is wait for Landon or Hope. Whomever arrives first. And stop them from doing something stupid. She closes her eyes, deciding that she’ll get some sleep while she waits. Before she dozes off however, she places her hand on her heart once again and mutters, “ _Tardus pulsatio_.” Wanting to slow her heart beat and by extension the spread of the poison.

If she’s being honest with herself, this feels almost as bad as that time she stole a bottle of her foster parent’s scotch. Pain radiates from her wound as she slips down against the wall and she feels as though she has to correct herself.

Because she was wrong.

This was much, much worse.

As he dangles over the dark horse, the Headless Horsemen holding his jacket in a tight fist, Landon regrets all of his life decisions that led him to this point.

His ribs _hurt_. And he has to pee. The rough jolts to his stomach as the horse gallops towards Malivore not helping ease the uncomfortable burning. He’s asked his captor if he could pull over for a potty break, but he was ignored. He considers just going, but then he remembers that he might find Hope at the end of this journey, or at the very least, Penelope. He shudders at the thought of Penelope finding out that he wet himself.

He’ll hold it.

He has been on this horse for an uncomfortable amount of time. At least it’s given him enough time to think about everything he had learned today.

His dad was a mud monster. That’s fun.

He knows it’s unreasonable, but he thought that Penelope would’ve found and saved him by now.

His thoughts just spiral as the trees around them fly past. Passing rocks are purely streaks in his unfocused vision. He’s given up on fighting the headless man holding him captive. He knows that if he even tried to escape, he’d be captured again just as quickly. For a brief stretch he props his chin up on his palm. He stopped however when it felt like he was repeatedly punching himself in the face.

He’s jolted from his thoughts, when the density of the trees around him begins to thin. He swings his head around and finds the outline of a warehouse building in the distance to his left.

He gulps.

“Oh, boy.”

 

* * *

 

 

Penelope’s surroundings filter into her awareness in flashes.

She sees Landon waving his fists in the air. Like a dork. The thought makes her chuckle.

She’s surrounded by blackness again.

She sees a knife fall into the pit in front of her and a flash of white light.

Orange tinged darkness fills her vision when her eyes close again.

She sees Landon using a bone-y whip thing-y. Odd. She mumbles and inaudible greeting to Hope.

Blackness.

She can hear alarms in the background, as she forces herself to stay awake. Her eyes struggle to focus on anything really. Her hearing wavers between clarity and muddled garbling, as though someone is dipping her head in and out of a body of water. She collects snippets of the couples conversation.

Landon’s dad is a pit of mud.

She can’t help it, laughs as she drags herself up the steps. She can see that the poison has spread exponentially. The dark ridged veins sticking up on her hand. She pulls her lips back and strains her neck slightly. That’s not good. Everything around her moves too quickly as she tries to gain a little more composure.

She sees Hope snap Landon’s neck.

“Oh shit,” she says, genuinely surprised.

She’s gotta say, anger is an excellent motivator. Because the second she saw Landon hit the floor, Penelope felt as though someone had shot her full of adrenaline. Everything around her sharpens and she inhales deeply.

God, her body _hurts_. And something that didn’t make it better was watching someone kill the guy that she had spent the last two days trying so hard to keep alive.

What. The. _Fuck_.

She listens to Hope’s conversation with Alaric and she only get’s angrier. She never really liked Hope Mikaelson. Yes she was a good person, but she only had a one track mind. Everything revolved around her, and she was the solution to everything.

Hope ends the phone call while looking down at the pit. Penelope follows her line of sight and  sees a face in the mud. She really shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore. Ever.

She nods her head in agreement with herself when she sees the creepy guy that Landon killed stand up again.

“Sorry,” Clark, she remembers, says. “I was eves dropping. What are you waiting for?”

Penelope waits. She knows that her time will come to intervene, because she won’t be able to fight this guy off. She barely made it to the top of the steps in the first place. She doesn’t want to know what will happen if she has to fight that guy.

The conversation between the two continues, and Penelope’s suspicion about Hope’s plan is proven correct, especially when she links herself to Clark. Penelope finds herself sliding against the wall, keeping up with the two talking people in front of her. When they all stop moving they form a triangle.

Everything seems to come back to the number three.

“It’s a basic mimic spell,” Hope says after she’s lowered her hand from her mouth. “We learned it in second grade.” Penelope didn’t. In second grade Penelope was still learning how to write her name. “Also in second grade,” the two move closer to each other, “follow leader.”

Penelope nods her head in agreement while Hope and the other guy start to choke each other.

“That tracks,” Penelope says out loud. They both look towards her, but she doesn’t give them a chance to do anything. She rushes forward and rams into Clark, sending him flying over the guardrail.  Penelope holds out her hand and Hope can’t move.

“ _Visique_ ,” she says making herself visible again. She braces herself against the par in front of her and then turns to face Hope ever so slightly. She drops her chin to her chest and turns her face towards the tribrid. “You know Mikaelson, you are one extra bitch.”

“Penelope,” Hope mutters, unable to move. Her eyes widen even more when she sees the dark veins stretching up past her jaw, kissing her pail cheek.

“You’re blood id the loophole you dumbass.” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the vial of blood from the school. She leans over as far as she can and pours it into the pit. The mud seems to scream in protest. “See? Jesus, you have the biggest savior complex I have ever seen. Were you seriously about to kill yourself , when you could’ve just bled a bit until that shit was gone?”

She keeps Hope restrained and grabs her outstretched arm. She drags the unmoving body over to the railing and holds the  arm out over the pit. She pulls the shard if glass out of her pocket. She has to reach to do it, but she slices Hope’s wrist anyway. They both watch as Hope’s blood pours down into the bubbling mud below them.

“Penelope,” Hope tries again. Tears leak from her eyes.

“It’s either be erased from existence, or maybe die of blood loss and come back as a vamp.” She leans against the railing more heavily. “Now we wait.”

And they do. They wait so long that Hope bleeds enough to lose consciousness. Blood starts to leak out of Penelope’s nose and eyes as she strains.

Just as she’s starting to worry about the other girl two things happen at once. There is a burst of flame to their right, and there is an explosion that rocks the world around them. The walls starts to crack and dust starts falling from the ceiling. The shockwave knocks Penelope backwards and her hold on Hope falls. She stumbles to the pit and sees that it’s now just an empty crater in the earth.

They did it.

She collapses to the ground just as Landon rises from it. Landon sees Penelope fall, and Hope’s body next to her. He doesn’t think he’s ever moved so fast in his life. He falls to his knees and blood soaks through his pants. He takes off his flannel shirt and presses it to Hope’s wrist. He is so angry with her, but he still has to make sure that she’s okay. He places his fingers to her neck and he sighs in relief when he finds a weak pulse there.

Next he turns to Penelope, and what he finds scares him beyond belief. Dark straining veins cover all visible skin. Blood is leaking from her mouth now as well. He scoots over to her and lifts her head to rest in his lap.

“Penelope,” he says, slapping her cheeks lightly to try and get her eyes to focus on him.

“Blood,” Penelope says, her hand drifting up to touch his chest. “Hope’s blood.”

Landon nods in understanding. Pushing hurriedly to his feet, his fear taking over. He drags Hope over by her under arms, his feet shuffling quickly. He drops her unceremoniously the sound of her head hitting the cement making him wince. But he doesn’t pause. He raises his girlfriends wrist to Penelope’s lips. He watches in awe as the black recedes from her veins. But an angry redness remains.

Penelope stops drinking sooner than Landon expected. “What are you doing? Penelope, that black stuff is still there, you’re not done.”

“No more, she could die.” Penelope’s hands are curled over her chest as it heaves. Landon wraps Hope’s wrist once again. When he’s done he pulls Penelope up so that her back is against his chest and she starts breathing easier. Her head plops against his collar bone.

“Then why did you even start?” he asks, starting to rock unconsciously. He watches her reach out and grasp Hope’s shoulder, and he understands.. “No, Penelope. No.” She reaches further trying to get a better grip. “Please, stop. You could die.”

“I just needed enough strength to do this.”

The next thing Landon knows, he’s sitting in the entrance way of the school. Penelope still leaning against him and Hope at her side. He watches her eyes slide closed. Her breathing has become even more ragged than before.

 

* * *

 

 

“This whole idea is whack, Josie,” Kaleb says as he raises the scale into the air. Josie keeps her head down as she places the tray of candles on the table. “Hope’s M.I.A. Raf is stuck being a werewolf until she get’s back. Ms. Tig don’t even work at the damn school anymore.”

“’Kay look,” Josie tells him, looking him in the eye. “We’re voting on the fate of my father. How do you think I feel?”

“Look,” Kaleb says. “I just want to con-”

“Help,” a voice calls. “Please help, help us!”

“Landon?” Josie asks, taking off at a run. Kaleb is quick to follow.

“Someone, please!” The desperation in his voice pushes Josie to run faster.

The calls for help continue, and Josie can hear other students making their way towards the source. She sees her sister standing across from the end of the hall facing the front doors of the school. Josie can see dread paint the side of her sister’s face that she can see.

“ _Please_ ,” Landon’s voice breaks.

Josie slides to a stop next to her sister. She turns quickly towards the still yelling boy. At first she sees Hope, unconscious on the floor. Blood leaking from her wrist.

The next piece of the picture that she sees doesn’t fully register. It can’t be right. Everything around her disappears. Her chest seizes and her heart clenches. Painfully.

“No,” Josie whispers. Her voice broken.

“ _Help_ ,” Landon yells again. He’s rocking now, an arm wrapped around the limp figure, one hand reaching up and stroking the persons dark, sweat soaked hair.

“No, no, no.” Josie repeats that one word over and over again, not wanting to believe.

Landon makes eye contact with Josie, pleading for her help. But Josie refuses, because it can't be true. This isn't right.

She can feel her sister's arms wrapping around her, supporting her weight as her legs give out.

Her vision is blurring.

She can feel her life beginning to fall apart.

Because there in Landon’s arms is Penelope Park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! I want to know what you're thinking! Also, I'm super obnoxious, selfish, and evil. So I want ALL of the comments. They make me more confident and they make me want to write more.


	6. It's Fi-Fi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh. The author is sorry, they're not sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters are not mine. I don't proof read. In college, I update when I can. Please comment.

Everything around Josie seems to happen as though it were a dream. It was as though she was having an out of body experience. She watched as people passed in front of her in blurs, two people she can’t identify in her blurred vision rushing to Hope’s side. It feels like she’s moving in slow motion as she feels more arms wrap around her, the first two falling away. Josie watches in shock as Lizzie becomes the first person to rush to Landon and Penelope’s aid.

“Lizzie?” Josie’s voice is airy and unsure. She looks down at the arms that are wrapped around her, then back at the face of the person. MG looks like he’s in pain.

Josie starts fighting with everything that she has. She jumps, pushing against MG. She pulls against him and when that doesn’t work she pushes against him. She twists in his arms, her eyes still focused on her sister and Penelope. She watches Lizzie help Landon lower Penelope to the ground gently, making her lay flat.

Josie loses it when Landon slides his leg under a dark flopping head. Her body is still twisted towards Mg when she swipes at his face with her with force and MG’s grip on her slackens when her nails slice across his cheek. Josie takes advantage of his momentary lapse and pushes away from him. Her steps are uneven and rough. She races forwards and slams to her knees next to Penelope. Unable to completely stop, her momentum carries her into her sister.

Something that her sister completely ignores.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with her,” Landon was saying. Lizzie just ignores him too.

She reaches down and grasps the bottom of Penelope’s filthy shirt. “Lizzie what are you doing?” Josie asks, her face scrunching in confusion. Once again she is ignored by her sister.

Lizzie lifts Penelope’s shirt, exposing the girl’s midriff. Once again, fear seizes Josie’s heart. The dark veins that reach toward the witch’s heart.

“What the hell?” Landon exclaims. His hands hover over Penelope, not knowing how to help. “What is th-”

“Not now Bilbo.” Lizzie sets to work trying to assess the damage. Josie can’t do anything but watch. Lizzie finishes her assessment and looks up at Landon. “She needs Hope’s blood.”

“She’s already had some,” he says quickly. “She drank enough to regain her strength to get us back here, but she refused to drink more. Said that it would kill Hope.”

Josie stares at Penelope’s face. Her penetrating gaze registering her pail skin, her sweaty hair, and the angry red lines of her veins that stretch over her cheeks. All of it making her chest clench painfully. She can’t focus on anything other than how peaceful Penelope looks right at this moment. What’s being said around her is muted, filtering through ears that have been emerged under water. The clarity fading into warbled white noise.

She stares.

“MG,” Lizzie calls out. The vampire rushes forward, Kaleb close behind. “MG go get my dad, quickly, he might be able to help.” She turns to Kaleb, “Help Hope.”

Kaleb nods, stepping forward and biting his wrist. He holds his wrist too the redheads mouth and all present except the three around Penelope watch as Hope’s eyes shoot open. She holds Kaleb’s wrist in a vice grip, drinking his blood hungrily. The color returns to her cheeks quickly. She finishes her pull of drink and slumps backwards against the ground panting. Her eyes skip around the faces surrounding them, confusion covers her features when she further takes in her surroundings.

She startles when she discovers that she’s in her school’s foyer. She struggles to fully grasp her surroundings when she sees  Dr. Saltzman push through the throng of students that surround her. She turns her head at the sound of Lizzie’s voice and finds four more people on her other side. _Them_. She corrects in her head. The throng of students that surround them.

Dr. Saltzman skids to a stop next to the teens on the ground, behind him MG and Dorian force their way through as well. Alaric’s chest rises and falls rapidly, betraying the effort it took for him to get there quickly.

His eyes widen when he takes in the sight before him. Hope watches as he measures the weight of the problem before him. She can his internal debate of who to go to first. She’s just starting to push herself up into a sitting position when Alaric decides.

He runs around Hope and his daughters to kneel next to Penelope. His leg pushes against Landon’s knee and he looks over to see that his legs are sprawled in front of him to allow for Penelope’s head to rest peacefully on his thigh. Landon reaches down and strokes Penelope’s hair, trying to comfort her as much as he can. He knows that she probably can’t even feel it, but that doesn’t stop him. But if she gets even an infinitesimal amount of comfort from the soft, slow strokes, then he’s going to keep doing it. There’s nothing else he can do right now.

Hope’s heart squeezes when her boyfriend doesn’t even pay her a passing glance.

Josie’s stare hasn’t wavered in the amount of time that she had been there. She reaches out and grabs Penelope’s hand, not even having to look. It’s as though she knew the path by heart. As much as she had hated to admit it, she knew that her hand would always find its way to Penelope’s. A tear slips down her cheek as she grips Penelope’s hand tightly. The heat that radiates from the limp hand alarms her.

She finally rips her eyes away from Penelope’s face and focuses on her father when she hears him talk.

“When did she get shot with a Malivore bullet?” he asks, his hands reaching out to prod the bullet wound. Josie can feel her sister tense beside her at their dad’s question. Lizzie relaxes slightly when Alaric backtracks before anyone can answer him. “Wait, that’s not important right now.” He looks up at those around him, his eye’s landing on Hope. “We need your blood, it worked on Josie, it’ll work on her.”

Hope shakes her head sadly. “I can’t Dr. Saltzman. Penelope used most of my blood to destroy Malivore-”

“She’s already had some of Hope’s blood,” Landon interrupts impatiently. “She didn’t want to drink anymore, because she was worried that the blood loss would kill Hope.” Landon looks down at Penelope’s wound and sees that the black in her veins don’t reach as high as they had before. “The blood is working,” he says, his relief clear. It doesn’t last long however when he realizes how much still needs to be healed.

“But not fast enough,” Alaric says. He looks at Hope again, “Hope, whatever you can give her can help. Her breathing is steady for now, but it’s going to get worse if we don’t do something now.” Hope nods and move to bite her now healed wrist.

Lizzie speaks up before she can, however. “It won’t matter,” she says. Her words draw the attention of all around them. “Look.” She points to Penelope’s cheek where there are still angry red veins sticking out of the skin there. “The Malivore bullet had a different effect on her than it did on Josie. Hope’s blood can kill the Malivore mud that is in her system, but it won’t kill the infection, if it could, it would have already.”

“But with Josie,” Alaric starts, “Hope’s blood completely killed her.”

“Hope’s _blood_ didn’t save Josie,” Lizzie growls, rolling her eyes. “Penelope did.”

Everyone goes quiet, all of them freezing as Josie’s eyes snap up to her sister. “What?” Josie asks. “What are you talking about?”

“Earlier,” Lizzie says, turning to her sister. “When dad passed out, it wasn’t because of shock, it was because of Penelope.”

“What?” Josie asks, her voice deadly calm.

“She stole the blood from dad,” Lizzie hurries on. “She knocked you out too, I think she had tried to do it to me, but she was too drained.”

“Lizzie-”

“She was standing over you when I saw those black veins.” Lizzie directs her gaze to Penelope again. “I knew right away what had happened. That man, Burr. He had fir-”

“He fired three times,” Josie says, her eyes turning back to Penelope’s face. “I remember.”

“The third shot hit Penelope.”

“She was here?” Alaric asks, it’s Landon who answers him.

“We both were.”

“But we didn’t see you,” Hope says, she reaches out to Landon, but he shifts away from her touch.

“Penelope cloaked us with magic,” Landon says. “She thought that we’d be able to do more, if we didn’t have ‘black-ops dickwads’,” he raises his fingers in air quotes, “watching our every move.”

“That’s not possible,” Alaric says, shaking his head.

“Tell that to all of the guys who didn’t see me coming when I shot them with a taser,” Landon scoffs, not looking up from Penelope.

“No,” Alaric starts trying to clarify. “The artifact under the school eliminates all magic.”

“You mean that skull thing with all of the blood?” Landon asks, the disgust clear on his face, his eyes still focused on the girl whose head rests on his leg.

“Yes.” Alaric runs a hand through his hair. “It’s supposed to eliminate all magic.”

“Witch’s magic maybe,” Lizzie says. “But the vamps and wolves still had their powers.”

Landon’s head shoots up at her words, his gaze pinning her to the spot. “Lizzie, that’s it.” Lizzie cocks her head at his words. “The artifact cancelled witch magic, but Penelope could still cast spells. And the Malivore-”

“The Malivore bullet affected her differently.” Lizzie starts talking a mile a minute. “It was more attracted to her blood, that was how we got the poison out of Josie.”

“Malivore was created to annihilate all magical species that weren’t vampire, werewolf, or witch. That means that she’s not completely a-”

“-witch.” Lizzie and Alaric finish his thought with him.

“That means that she’s half a creature from Malivore,” Lizzie says, her voice quiet with awe as she looks at the girl laying in front of her.

Josie is shaking her head. “That can’t be true,” she says. She looks at those around her, “I’ve met her parents, they’re both witches.”

“Her adoptive parents maybe,” Landon says. “But not her birth parents.”

His words make Josie’s world tilt on its axis. “What?”

“Maybe we should get Miss Park to the infirmary,” Alaric says, trying to get the conversation back on track. Penelope’s health is the most important thing right now, not her background.

He moves to grab the dark haired girl, but Landon waves him off. He’s slipping his leg out from under her head when it happens.

Penelope’s chest starts to rise and fall at an unbelievably rapid pace. They all freeze.

Then Penelope’s whole body starts to shake.

“What’s happening?” Josie cries out. Penelope’s hand slips from hers as it curls in on itself rigidly. Both of her hands pull towards her chest as she convulses. No longer having Landon’s leg as a pillow, Penelope’s head starts to slam repeatedly against the hard wood floor beneath her. Josie looks to her dad desperately. “Help her,” she cries, crawling forward and pushing Lizzie out of the way. “Oh god no, no,” she sobs trying to help the others turn her on her side.

“What’s happening?” Lizzie asks her dad desperately

“Penelope,” Landon calls to her, sliding around so that he can see her face. He looks to those around them, his eyes pleading. “She can’t hear me. Penelope, Penelope, it’s Landon, can you hear me? It’s Fi-Fi.”

“It looks as if,” Alaric says starts saying leaning back on his heels, not wanting to continue.

“It looks as if what?” Lizzie asks, her voice growling. She can’t tear her eyes from her sister, however. She can only watch as she leans forward, one hand grasping one of Penelope’s clenched hands, and the other reaching upwards to stroke her hair out of her face.

“The poison’s made it to her heart,” Hope says. Her words cause Josie to sob.

“Please, love,” she says, her voice pitching high as her throat tightens with her sobs. “Please, love. Please don’t leave me, love. Please don’t leave me.”

It’s Lizzie who notices it. The way Penelope’s head tilts backwards, the way her neck strains, and her mouth gaps. Penelope’s struggling to fight but she can’t.

“She can’t breathe.”

Lizzie’s words send Josie into an even deeper panic. “No, no, no, no, no, no.”

Josie’s being pulled away from Penelope, and she doesn’t think that she’s ever fought so hard in her life. Penelope is still struggling to breathe and someone is pulling Josie away from her. “No,” she cries, her body shaking with the sobs. “No, let me go!”

“Josie.” Lizzie’s voice filters through all of the noise. “Josie, let him try to help.”

It’s then that Josie can finally tear her eyes away from Penelope’s face only to focus on Landon’s. She watches hopelessly as Landon hauls Penelope up against his chest and wraps his arms around her chest. Josie’s uncontrollable sobs cut through the silence around them.

“Landon,” Hope’s voice is soft. Everyone watches as the boy squeezes his eyes closed. His face pinching in concentration. “What are you doing?”

“I’m a phoenix.” Was the only answer that any of them received. “I am a phoenix.”

They watch as Penelope’s convulsions begin to slow. Her lips are starting to turn blue as Landon begins to squeeze her even tighter, his face becoming even more determined. They can all see Josie begin to sink into her sister.

“Landon,” Hope says, “I don’t think it works like that.”

Landon’s eyes shoot wide open as he turns his stare to her. Penelope’s chest is barely moving as the look on his face can only be described as defiance.

Those who surround to the pair are forced to cover their eyes as they go up in flames. The heat overwhelms them and Alaric can feel his skin blister. The flames disappear just as quickly as they had materialized. All slowly open their eyes to find a statue in the middle of the foyer. They all wait with a bated breath. Hope is left staring into defiant, stone eyes. No one noticed that Josie’s sobs had stopped.

Josie pushes away from her sister, and scoots on her knees towards the frozen pair. She reaches out and clasps Penelope’s stone hand, hoping to feel something, anything at all. The stone starts crumbling, turning to ash, but it’s not Penelope who is moving, it’s Landon. The cocoon falls away in chunks as he starts to move. He moves his arms and the shell around Penelope starts to fall away as well.

The ash falls away from his face and Landon inhales a large breath, breaking the shell even more. Josie takes that as her cue to reach forward start pulling away chunks of ash. She works her way up from her chest to the perfect sculpture of her face. She doesn’t even hesitate before ripping those pieces away.

She’s met with bright hazel eyes staring back at her. She pulls chunks away at a higher speed, now, separating them from them from Penelope’s ears and hair. Penelope looks Josie in the eye as her nostrils flare with the sudden inhalation of breath. Josie’s breaths come out in stuttered huffs of relief.

Penelope’s wide eyes flutter in confusion. They skirt around the room taking in the faces around her. They look down at the arms around her, and she turns her head to see Landon’s smiling face. When she feels Josie’s hands on hers she whips her head back around to face her. She sees a relieved smile on her face.

Josie looks Penelope straight in the eyes. She reaches out and cups her jaw, her thumb stroking her cheek.

“Hey pretty lady,” Josie whispers softly. Penelope manages a small smile as her eyes start to flutter shut.

 

* * *

 

 

“I don’t understand.” Josie is sitting next to  Penelope’s bedside, cradling the smaller girl’s hand in her own. She’s surprised that she hasn’t rubbed a whole into the back of Penelope’s hand with the worrying her thumb has done at the skin there. “Why hasn’t she woken up yet?”

Landon is startled. No one has heard Josie talk since they had moved Penelope to the infirmary. When he was asleep on the cot next to Penelope he could have sworn he heard her murmuring to the girl, but when he tuned his ears in to hear what was being said, it had been completely silent. He had expected her to stay quiet until Penelope woke again. So, when he heard her voice, he’s not afraid to admit that he had jumped a little bit.

“According to your dad,” Landon speaks up from Penelope’s other side, “she blew out her magic. That plus the infection she’s still fighting off, he said her body is recharging.”

“She’s a person, not a phone.” Josie shifts in the uncomfortable chair she’s been sitting in for the past three days.

“I know that,” Landon says, a frown starting to spread across his face. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“I know,” she says. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just worried.”

“I know.” He observes her from his own uncomfortable chair. The bags under her eyes are dark and puffy. He worries for the moment that she stands because he knows that her legs had gone numb hours ago. He had only seen her leave Penelope’s side when she needed the restroom, and when he had assured her that he would stay with Penelope until she got back. If it weren’t for Lizzie, he doesn’t think that either of them would have eaten.

The blonde had been visiting regularly as well. Not only for meals, but also when classes had let out for the day. Josie had told him that she was there to support her, but Landon wasn’t so sure. He had seen the genuine worry in the blonde’s eyes. That look wasn’t just for her sister, Landon could see that plain as day.

They sit in silence again, and Landon can only watch as Josie strokes the scar that’s on Penelope’s palm with one hand and playing with her ebony hair with the other. He’s thankful that he’s been allowed to stay, he can’t really explain it, but this is the place that he is supposed to be. He’s also thankful that the silence between them isn’t awkward.

He’s also thankful that Josie has been so understanding as to why he wanted to be there. No one else seemed to get it, but she did. He remembers the look she had given Hope, when she had tried to convince him to leave.

That had been awkward.

Hope had been there to test Penelope’s genealogy, she and Dr. Saltzman had wanted to see if Penelope was a phoenix like him, the two of them assuming that that was the only way that what had happened could’ve worked. They ignored his argument that if she were a phoenix, she would’ve had to die first, and that she’d be completely healed. She wouldn’t be there right now if she were a phoenix. His comments had been ignored.

Hope had taken Penelope’s blood, and then Landon’s. Her whole process had been largely ignored by Josie up until she started drawing blood. Hope had been thrown across the room before she could even blink. Josie had been immediately apologetic, but after he was sure Hope was okay, Landon had felt a little gratified at the occurrence.

He didn’t feel like he could be blamed really. She _had_ killed him. That had been a shit move, and if she were awake right now, he knows that Penelope would agree with him. It had been pointless. He could have helped and they could have prevented this whole thing.

He had felt even more gratified when the test had come back negative for mystical blood relation, or whatever she had said. He couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just believe him the first time. She had acted like he was incapable of saving someone. Like, he couldn’t possibly have saved Penelope, there had to have been another explanation.

He’s not too masculine to admit that he’s been a little bitter recently.

However, the question of what else Penelope might be has been hanging over all of them, and he knew that this blood thing may help figure it all out.

“I didn’t even know.” Once again, Josie’s voice startles Landon from his reverie.

“Sorry?” he asks, shifting in his chair. He leans closer as though doing so will help clarify what the brunette was talking about.

“I didn’t even know that she was adopted.”

“Ah.” So much for this not being awkward. Josie looks over at him and she smiles slightly at how uncomfortable he looks. “She said that she didn’t like talking about it.”

His words make her scoff. “Right. And you’ve known her how long?” Josie rolls her eyes before looking back at Penelope. “I’ve known her since we were thirteen. _Thirteen_. And I never knew that she was adopted.”

“Josie you can’t beat yourself up over that,” Landon tells her softly, reaching across Penelope, to grab the girls hand. “I guess it’s easier for a foster kid to talk to a fellow foster kid about foster care, you know?” He doesn’t expect his words to upset her even more. “What, what did I say?”

“I didn’t even consider that she had been in foster care,” Josie whispers, her voice cracking. Her eyelids start to flutter as she tries to blink away her tears, looking down towards her lap before directing her gaze back to him. “She never said anything.”

“We have trust issues, it’s a problem,” Landon says, trying to comfort her. He knows it didn’t work when she becomes even more upset. “Shit, that didn’t sound right. I’m not doing this right.” He drags his hand over his face. “Look, I’m not saying that it’s okay that you didn’t know, you probably should’ve known that about her. But I am saying that it doesn’t mean that you loved her any less or that she loved you any less just because you didn’t know that she had shit birth parents. We can love people without knowing their whole past.”

The doors behind them open and they both turn towards the noise. They’re not surprised to find Hope and Lizzie enter the infirmary, they are however surprised to see Pedro, Jed, and Rafael. Pedro is sitting on Jed’s shoulders, the flowers in his hands resting on the wolf’s head. Josie turns away from the door quickly and swipes at her eyes.

“I hope that we’re not interrupting anything,” Jed says, his eyes jumping between Josie and Landon.

“Of course we’re not,” Rafael says, his gaze focused on Landon. The latter tilts his head, unsure of what Raf is doing.

“Um, why are you here?” Landon asks the three unexpected guests.

“I wanted to read Penelope a story,” Pedro’s voice squeaks out. He lifts the flowers in his hands over his head. “And bring her flowers. They’re Jed’s idea, he said they’re her favorites.”

Josie stands when they reach the bed and takes the flowers from the boy. She unwraps the flowers and drops them into the empty vase on the stand by Penelope’s bed. She smiles up at Pedro, “She’ll love them.”

The boy’s smile pulls one to Josie’s lips as well as she moves to sit down again.

“How did you know her favorite flowers?” Josie asks Jed, the boy shifts uncomfortably.

“Penelope and I talk.”

“No you don’t.” Lizzie crosses her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowing.

“Yes, we do,” Jed says, his eyes flash for a second and Landon flinches. Jed looks at his feet after seeing the movement. “She was there for me after everything happened, found me in the woods, got me a hotel room for a couple of weeks. She was there when no one else was. She helped me. I asked her how I could repay her and she told me to get her some flowers. She told me what her favorite flowers were, made a joke about how no one’s gotten her flowers in months, that it was a shame I was a guy. She stopped by every night after curfew, kept an eye on me.”

“So, I was right,” Raf says , a victorious smile on his face. “You weren’t there for Landon.”

“Of course I wasn’t,” Jed exclaims, then looks over at Landon. “No offense dude, but I don’t really know you.”

“Didn’t stop Penelope.” Josie’s words are proud as she looks at Penelope once again.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lizzie says, pulling a chair up next to her sister. “Satan is a saint, we get it.”

Josie turns to reprimand her sister, but she stops when she sees the soft smile that rests upon her lips.

“Okay,” Landon says, elongating the end of the word, turning his gaze to Rafael who is standing behind Josie and Lizzie. “And why are you here, exactly?”

Rafael places his hand on Josie’s shoulder, and Landon can’t help the anger that fills him. He knows that he has feelings for Hope, he is even understanding about it. He knows it’s nothing, or he _hopes_ it’s nothing. He doesn’t like that Rafael is touching Josie while Penelope is asleep in front of them. The thought confuses him immensely. This is his brother, he knows that he’s a good guy.

But for some reason, he’s still angry.

He looks away from Raf and looks at Hope briefly before looking at Jed and Pedro. “So what book did you choose Pedro?”

The boy starts to bounce excitedly as Jed reaches up to pull the boy off of his shoulders. He places the boy on his feet next to Lizzie, who scoffs in offence when Pedro hits her with his backpack. The curly haired boy digs through his bag searching for a book that he pulls free victoriously, dropping his bag to his feet.

“Can we talk?” the voice is quiet in his ear, and he turns to look at Hope who appears to be pleading with him. “Please?”

“Not now Hope,” Landon whispers, turning away immediately.

He smiles when he sees his favorite childhood book in Pedro’s hands.

“What’s that bud?” Jed asks. The small boy hadn’t let him see it when he had requested this trip.

“Corduroy,” Pedro says. “Penelope read it to all the littles, that's what she calls us, after the gargle attacked.”

“Gargoyle,” Josie corrects out of habit, focusing on what the boy is saying intently.

“That’s what I said, gargle.” Pedro huffs as he tries to climb onto the bed with the book in his hands. Jed had to reach over and lift him up, a soft ‘careful’ passing his lips as he sets him down gently. “She said that she was scared and she wanted us to keep her company. Ms. Tig let us all sleep in the common room like it was one big sleep over. It was awesome. Penelope stole candy from the kit-” the boy’s hands fly to cover his mouth, the book dropping to his lap.

“What’s wrong Pedro?” Lizzie asks startled by the sudden change in the boy’s demeanor.

The boy parts his hands slightly so he can talk, his mouth still partially covered. “I wasn’t ‘posed to say anything,” he whispers. “It’s ‘posed to be a secret. We’re not allowed candy after dinner. Penelope said she’d get in trouble.”

The pure fear in his voice makes them all laugh, even Josie releases a small chuckle.

“I promise Pedro,” Josie says with a smile. “We won’t tell a soul.”

As though to emphasize Josie’s point, they all raise their right hands and crossed their hearts. Laughter surrounds them again at the sight of the unplanned yet simultaneous gesture.

“Anyway, Penelope said it was her favorite,” Pedro continues, now unphased. “So I thought it would make her feel better.” Pedro carefully crawls closer to the head of the bed. He goes to open the book, but then he pauses again. He lifts his head and looks at the teens around him. “I’m not a good reader.”

“I’ll help you Pedro.” Josie reaches up and pulls the boy into her lap. She then scoots her chair closer to the bed and opens the book, before reaching out to grab Penelope’s hand again. Lizzie kicks her feet up onto the edge of the bed and Jed drags a chair over for him to sit at the foot of the bed. Raf and Hope follow his lead, hoping pulling her chair up next to Landon’s.

Landon looks around the room as he listens to them start to read the book. Pedro reading and turning the pages and Josie supplying the words that Pedro doesn’t know. The slow and stuttered process making the story broken and nonsensical. But he still loves the story anyway. The room is bright, sunlight filtering in through the many windows that surround them. There are nine other beds in the room, partitions pushed against the walls next to them.

He can feel himself drifting off when he hears Hope say, “I had no idea that happened after the gargoyle.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Jed responds with a scoff.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hope asks. She scoots to the edge of her seat and leans towards the former wolf.

“It means that you don’t notice anything that doesn’t directly affect you.” Jed shakes his head in disdain. “All of you are like that, everything happens to _you_.”

“That’s uncalled for Jed,” Raf growls, his eyes flashing. “Apologize.”

“No.” They both shoot to their feet, causing Josie and Pedro to stop reading, and Lizzie to look their way.

“Raf,” Hope says. “It’s okay. I mean, he’s got a point.”

Her words are ignored as Rafael presses his nose to Jed’s. Both of their eyes glowing now. “I said, apologize. I’m your alpha.”

“Not gonna happen, Raf,” Jed growls refusing to budge an inch.

Rafael raises his hand to punch the other boy, but before he can he goes flying across the room, and slams into the wall. They all turn to find Penelope’s right hand raised towards the downed alpha, her eyes still closed. They all freeze and wait, thinking that she’ll wake.

She doesn’t.

She does, however, move on her own for the first time in days, rolling onto her side, and scooting closer to the edge of the bed. Closer to Josie as though she knows that the brunette is there. The thought makes Josie smile.

She tuns back to the book and starts reading again, this time Pedro follows along, content to just listen as well.

At the sound of Josie’s voice, they all see a small smile stretch across Penelope’s lips. Lizzie pretends to gag herself, Jed rolls his eyes, Landon smiles, and Hope stares at Landon. Rafael leaves the room, thoroughly angry and in need of an outlet.

Josie squeezes Penelope’s hand tighter.

Her breath hitches when she feels a slight squeeze back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm needy, please comment, let me know what you think. this is far from over. I'm selfish, knowing what you think and if you like it keeps me wanting to write. So please, please, please, comment.


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